Original version - Eric S. Raymond
(Edited and expanded for 3.7 by Mike Stephenson and others)
- December 16, 2020
+ December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
you have seen on the current dungeon level; as you explore more
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
you have available for spell casting. Again, resting will
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
scribe things that are impossible to represent visually. If you
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
Da - drop all objects, without asking for confirmation.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
an arrow while not wielding a bow, you are throwing it by
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
(R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
\ Show what types of objects have been discovered.
+ May be preceded by `m' to select preferred display order.
+
` Show discovered types for one class of objects.
+ May be preceded by `m' to select preferred display order.
+
! Escape to a shell. See "#shell" below for more details.
Del Show map without obstructions. You can view the explored
As you can see, the authors of NetHack used up all the let-
ters, so this is a way to introduce the less frequently used com-
- mands. What extended commands are available depends on what fea-
- tures the game was compiled with.
-
- #adjust
- Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option
+ mands. What extended commands are available depends on what
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ features the game was compiled with.
+
+ #adjust
+ Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option
is "on"). Autocompletes. Default key is `M-a'.
This command allows you to move an item from one particular
#autopickup
Toggle the autopickup option on/off. Default key is `@'.
- #call
- Call (name) a monster, or an object in inventory, on the
- floor, or in the discoveries list, or add an annotation for
- the current level (same as "#annotate"). Default key is
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ #call
+ Call (name) a monster, or an object in inventory, on the
+ floor, or in the discoveries list, or add an annotation for
+ the current level (same as "#annotate"). Default key is
`C'.
#cast
paranoid_confirmation:quit option to require a response of
yes instead.
- #fire
- Fire ammunition from quiver. Default key is `f'.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ #fire
+ Fire ammunition from quiver. Default key is `f'.
+
#force
Force a lock. Autocompletes. Default key is `M-f'.
Show what object types have been discovered. Default key is
`\'.
- #knownclass
- Show discovered types for one class of objects. Default key
- is ``'.
+ The `m' prefix allows assigning a new value to the sortdis-
+ coveries option to control the order in which the discover-
+ ies are displayed.
- #levelchange
- Change your experience level. Autocompletes. Debug mode
- only.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ #knownclass
+ Show discovered types for one class of objects. Default key
+ is ``'.
+
+ The `m' prefix operates the same as for "#known".
+
+ #levelchange
+ Change your experience level. Autocompletes. Debug mode
+ only.
+
#lightsources
Show mobile light sources. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.
Display information you've discovered about the dungeon.
Any visited level (unless forgotten due to amnesia) with an
annotation is included, and many things (altars, thrones,
- fountains, and so on; extra stairs leading to another dun-
- geon branch) trigger an automatic annotation. If dungeon
- overview is chosen during end-of-game disclosure, every vis-
- ited level will be included regardless of annotations. Au-
- tocompletes. Default keys are `^O', and `M-O'.
-
- #panic
- Test the panic routine. Terminates the current game. Auto-
- completes. Debug mode only.
+ fountains, and so on; extra stairs leading to another
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 23
- NetHack Guidebook 23
+ dungeon branch) trigger an automatic annotation. If dungeon
+ overview is chosen during end-of-game disclosure, every vis-
+ ited level will be included regardless of annotations. Au-
+ tocompletes. Default keys are `^O', and `M-O'.
+ #panic
+ Test the panic routine. Terminates the current game. Auto-
+ completes. Debug mode only.
Asks for confirmation; default is n (no); continue playing.
To really panic, respond with y. You can set the para-
Since using this command by accident would throw away the
current game, you are asked to confirm your intent before
- quitting. Default response is n (no); continue playing. To
- really quit, respond with y. You can set the paranoid_con-
- firmation:quit option to require a response of yes instead.
- #quiver
- Select ammunition for quiver. Default key is `Q'.
- #read
- Read a scroll, a spellbook, or something else. Default key
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 24
- NetHack Guidebook 24
+ quitting. Default response is n (no); continue playing. To
+ really quit, respond with y. You can set the paranoid_con-
+ firmation:quit option to require a response of yes instead.
+ #quiver
+ Select ammunition for quiver. Default key is `Q'.
+ #read
+ Read a scroll, a spellbook, or something else. Default key
is `r'.
#redraw
#shell
Do a shell escape, switching from NetHack to a subprocess.
- Can be disabled at the time the program is built. When en-
- abled, access for specific users can be controlled by the
- system configuration file. Use the shell command `exit' to
- return to the game. Default key is `!'.
-
- #showgold
- Report the gold in your inventory and if you are inside a
- shop, report any credit or debt you have in that shop. Does
- not report on any gold inside containers you're carrying.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ Can be disabled at the time the program is built. When en-
+ abled, access for specific users can be controlled by the
+ system configuration file. Use the shell command `exit' to
+ return to the game. Default key is `!'.
+
+ #showgold
+ Report the gold in your inventory and if you are inside a
+ shop, report any credit or debt you have in that shop. Does
+ not report on any gold inside containers you're carrying.
Default key is `$'.
#showspells
sters; without monsters and objects; or without monsters,
objects, and traps.
- In explore mode, you can choose to view the full map rather
- than just its explored portion. In debug mode there are ad-
- ditional choices.
- Autocompletes. Default key is `<del>' or `<delete>' (see
- Del above).
- #therecmdmenu
- Show a menu of possible actions directed at a location next
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 26
- NetHack Guidebook 26
+ In explore mode, you can choose to view the full map rather
+ than just its explored portion. In debug mode there are ad-
+ ditional choices.
+ Autocompletes. Default key is `<del>' or `<delete>' (see
+ Del above).
+ #therecmdmenu
+ Show a menu of possible actions directed at a location next
to you. The menu is limited to a subset of the likeliest
actions, not an exhaustive set of all possibilities. Auto-
completes.
#vanquished
List vanquished monsters. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.
- #version
- Print compile time options for this version of NetHack.
-
- The second paragraph lists the user interface(s) that are
- included. If there are more than one, you can use the win-
- dowtype option in your run-time configuration file to select
- the one you want.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 27
- NetHack Guidebook 27
+ #version
+ Print compile time options for this version of NetHack.
+ The second paragraph lists the user interface(s) that are
+ included. If there are more than one, you can use the win-
+ dowtype option in your run-time configuration file to select
+ the one you want.
Autocompletes. Default key is `M-v'.
#wizgenesis
Create a monster. May be prefixed by a count to create more
than one. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default key is
- `^G'.
- #wizidentify
- Identify all items in inventory. Autocompletes. Debug mode
- only. Default key is `^I'.
- #wizintrinsic
- Set one or more intrinsic attributes. Autocompletes. Debug
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 28
- NetHack Guidebook 28
+ `^G'.
+ #wizidentify
+ Identify all items in inventory. Autocompletes. Debug mode
+ only. Default key is `^I'.
+ #wizintrinsic
+ Set one or more intrinsic attributes. Autocompletes. Debug
mode only.
#wizlevelport
- If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in com-
- bination with another key, modifies it by setting the "meta"
- [8th, or "high"] bit), you can invoke many extended commands by
- meta-ing the first letter of the command.
- On Windows and MS-DOS, the "Alt" key can be used in this
- fashion. On other systems, if typing "Alt" plus another key
- transmits a two character sequence consisting of an Escape fol-
- lowed by the other key, you may set the altmeta option to have
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in com-
+ bination with another key, modifies it by setting the "meta"
+ [8th, or "high"] bit), you can invoke many extended commands by
+ meta-ing the first letter of the command.
+
+ On Windows and MS-DOS, the "Alt" key can be used in this
+ fashion. On other systems, if typing "Alt" plus another key
+ transmits a two character sequence consisting of an Escape fol-
+ lowed by the other key, you may set the altmeta option to have
NetHack combine them into meta+key. (This combining action only
takes place when NetHack is expecting a command to execute, not
when accepting input to name something or to make a wish.)
M-O #overview
- M-p #pray
- M-q #quit
- M-r #rub
- M-R #ride
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- M-s #sit
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 30
+ M-p #pray
+ M-q #quit
- NetHack Guidebook 30
+ M-r #rub
+ M-R #ride
+ M-s #sit
M-t #turn
tions. Mapping magic reveals secret corridors, so converts them
into ordinary corridors and shows them as such.
- 5.1. Doorways
- Doorways connect rooms and corridors. Some doorways have no
- doors; you can walk right through. Others have doors in them,
- which may be open, closed, or locked. To open a closed door, use
- the `o' (open) command; to close it again, use the `c' (close)
- command. By default the autoopen option is enabled, so simply
- attempting to walk onto a closed door's location will attempt to
- open it without needing `o'. Opening via autoopen will not work
- if you are confused or stunned or suffer from the fumbling at-
- tribute.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ 5.1. Doorways
+
+ Doorways connect rooms and corridors. Some doorways have no
+ doors; you can walk right through. Others have doors in them,
+ which may be open, closed, or locked. To open a closed door, use
+ the `o' (open) command; to close it again, use the `c' (close)
+ command. By default the autoopen option is enabled, so simply
+ attempting to walk onto a closed door's location will attempt to
+ open it without needing `o'. Opening via autoopen will not work
+ if you are confused or stunned or suffer from the fumbling at-
+ tribute.
+
Open doors cannot be entered diagonally; you must approach
them straight on, horizontally or vertically. Doorways without
doors are not restricted in this fashion except on one particular
in all ways equivalent to normal doors. Mapping magic does not
reveal secret doors.
- 5.2. Traps (`^')
- There are traps throughout the dungeon to snare the unwary
- intruder. For example, you may suddenly fall into a pit and be
- stuck for a few turns trying to climb out (see below). A trap
- usually won't appear on your map until you trigger it by moving
- onto it, you see someone else trigger it, or you discover it with
- the `s' (search) command (multiple attempts are often needed; if
- your luck is poor, many attempts might be needed). Wands of se-
- cret door detection and spell of detect unseen also reveal traps
- within a modest radius but only if the trap is also within line-
- of-sight (whether you can see at the time or not). There is also
- other magic which can reveal traps.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ 5.2. Traps (`^')
+
+ There are traps throughout the dungeon to snare the unwary
+ intruder. For example, you may suddenly fall into a pit and be
+ stuck for a few turns trying to climb out (see below). A trap
+ usually won't appear on your map until you trigger it by moving
+ onto it, you see someone else trigger it, or you discover it with
+ the `s' (search) command (multiple attempts are often needed; if
+ your luck is poor, many attempts might be needed). Wands of se-
+ cret door detection and spell of detect unseen also reveal traps
+ within a modest radius but only if the trap is also within line-
+ of-sight (whether you can see at the time or not). There is also
+ other magic which can reveal traps.
+
Monsters can fall prey to traps, too, which can potentially
be used as a defensive strategy. Unfortunately traps can be
harmful to your pet(s) as well. Monsters, including pets, usual-
access to that spot. With careful foresight, it is possible to
complete all of the levels according to the traditional rules of
Sokoban. (Hint: to solve Sokoban puzzles, you often need to move
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 33
+
+
+
things away from their eventual destinations in order to open up
more room to maneuver.) Since NetHack does not support an undo
capability, some allowances are permitted in case you get stuck.
that. See the Conduct section for information about getting
feedback for your actions in Sokoban.
-
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 33
-
-
-
5.3. Stairs and ladders (`<', `>')
In general, each level in the dungeon will have a staircase
near the door and many items lying on the floor. You can buy
items by picking them up and then using the `p' command. You can
inquire about the price of an item prior to picking it up by us-
- ing the "#chat" command while standing on it. Using an item pri-
- or to paying for it will incur a charge, and the shopkeeper won't
- allow you to leave the shop until you have paid any debt you owe.
-
- You can sell items to a shopkeeper by dropping them to the
- floor while inside a shop. You will either be offered an amount
- of gold and asked whether you're willing to sell, or you'll be
- told that the shopkeeper isn't interested (generally, your item
- needs to be compatible with the type of merchandise carried by
- the shop).
-
- If you drop something in a shop by accident, the shopkeeper
- will usually claim ownership without offering any compensation.
+ ing the "#chat" command while standing on it. Using an item
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ prior to paying for it will incur a charge, and the shopkeeper
+ won't allow you to leave the shop until you have paid any debt
+ you owe.
+
+ You can sell items to a shopkeeper by dropping them to the
+ floor while inside a shop. You will either be offered an amount
+ of gold and asked whether you're willing to sell, or you'll be
+ told that the shopkeeper isn't interested (generally, your item
+ needs to be compatible with the type of merchandise carried by
+ the shop).
+
+ If you drop something in a shop by accident, the shopkeeper
+ will usually claim ownership without offering any compensation.
You'll have to buy it back if you want to reclaim it.
- Shopkeepers sometime run out of money. When that happens,
- you'll be offered credit instead of gold when you try to sell
- something. Credit can be used to pay for purchases, but it is
- only good in the shop where it was obtained; other shopkeepers
- won't honor it. (If you happen to find a "credit card" in the
+ Shopkeepers sometime run out of money. When that happens,
+ you'll be offered credit instead of gold when you try to sell
+ something. Credit can be used to pay for purchases, but it is
+ only good in the shop where it was obtained; other shopkeepers
+ won't honor it. (If you happen to find a "credit card" in the
dungeon, don't bother trying to use it in shops; shopkeepers will
not accept it.)
- The `$' command, which reports the amount of gold you are
+ The `$' command, which reports the amount of gold you are
carrying (in inventory, not inside bags or boxes), will also show
- current shop debt or credit, if any. The "Iu" command lists un-
+ current shop debt or credit, if any. The "Iu" command lists un-
paid items (those which still belong to the shop) if you are car-
- rying any. The "Ix" command shows an inventory-like display of
- any unpaid items which have been used up, along with other shop
+ rying any. The "Ix" command shows an inventory-like display of
+ any unpaid items which have been used up, along with other shop
fees, if any.
5.4.1. Shop idiosyncrasies
* The price of a given item can vary due to a variety of factors.
- * A shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if
+ * A shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if
it were outside the shop.
- * While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he or she will
+ * While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he or she will
generally ignore any other customers.
- * If a shop is "closed for inventory," it will not open of its
+ * If a shop is "closed for inventory," it will not open of its
own accord.
* Shops do not get restocked with new items, regardless of inven-
5.5. Movement feedback
- Moving around the map usually provides no feedback--other
- than drawing the hero at the new location--unless you step on an
- object or pile of objects, or on a trap, or attempt to move onto
- a spot where a monster is located. There are several options
- which can be used to augment the normal feedback.
-
- The pile_limit option controls how many objects can be in a
- pile--sharing the same map location--for the game to state "there
- are objects here" instead of listing them. The default is 5.
- Setting it to 1 would always give that message instead of listing
- any objects. Setting it to 0 is a special case which will always
- list all objects no matter how big a pile is. Note that the num-
- ber refers to the count of separate stacks of objects present
- rather than the sum of the quantities of those stacks (so 7 ar-
- rows or 25 gold pieces will each count as 1 rather than as 7 and
- 25, respectively, and total to 2 when both are at the same
+ Moving around the map usually provides no feedback--other
+ than drawing the hero at the new location--unless you step on an
+ object or pile of objects, or on a trap, or attempt to move onto
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- location).
+ a spot where a monster is located. There are several options
+ which can be used to augment the normal feedback.
- The "nopickup" command prefix (default `m') can be used be-
- fore a movement direction to step on objects without attempting
+ The pile_limit option controls how many objects can be in a
+ pile--sharing the same map location--for the game to state "there
+ are objects here" instead of listing them. The default is 5.
+ Setting it to 1 would always give that message instead of listing
+ any objects. Setting it to 0 is a special case which will always
+ list all objects no matter how big a pile is. Note that the num-
+ ber refers to the count of separate stacks of objects present
+ rather than the sum of the quantities of those stacks (so 7 ar-
+ rows or 25 gold pieces will each count as 1 rather than as 7 and
+ 25, respectively, and total to 2 when both are at the same loca-
+ tion).
+
+ The "nopickup" command prefix (default `m') can be used be-
+ fore a movement direction to step on objects without attempting
auto-pickup and without giving feedback about them.
- The mention_walls option controls whether you get feedback
- if you try to walk into a wall or solid stone or off the edge of
- the map. Normally nothing happens (unless the hero is blind and
+ The mention_walls option controls whether you get feedback
+ if you try to walk into a wall or solid stone or off the edge of
+ the map. Normally nothing happens (unless the hero is blind and
no wall is shown, then the wall that is being bumped into will be
- drawn on the map). This option also gives feedback when rushing
+ drawn on the map). This option also gives feedback when rushing
or running stops for some non-obvious reason.
- The mention_decor option controls whether you get feedback
- when walking on "furniture." Normally stepping onto stairs or a
- fountain or an altar or various other things doesn't elicit any-
- thing unless it is covered by one or more objects so is obscured
- on the map. Setting this option to true will describe such
- things even when they aren't obscured. Doorless doorways and
- open doors aren't considered worthy of mention; closed doors (if
- you can move onto their spots) and broken doors are. Assuming
- that you're able to do so, moving onto water or lava or ice will
- give feedback if not yet on that type of terrain but not repeat
- it (unless there has been some intervening message) when moving
+ The mention_decor option controls whether you get feedback
+ when walking on "furniture." Normally stepping onto stairs or a
+ fountain or an altar or various other things doesn't elicit any-
+ thing unless it is covered by one or more objects so is obscured
+ on the map. Setting this option to true will describe such
+ things even when they aren't obscured. Doorless doorways and
+ open doors aren't considered worthy of mention; closed doors (if
+ you can move onto their spots) and broken doors are. Assuming
+ that you're able to do so, moving onto water or lava or ice will
+ give feedback if not yet on that type of terrain but not repeat
+ it (unless there has been some intervening message) when moving
from water to another water spot, or lava to lava, or ice to ice.
- Moving off of any of those back onto "normal" terrain will give
- one message too, unless there is feedback about one or more ob-
+ Moving off of any of those back onto "normal" terrain will give
+ one message too, unless there is feedback about one or more ob-
jects, in which case the back on land circumstance is implied.
- The confirm and safe_pet options control what happens when
- you try to move onto a peaceful monster's spot or a tame one's
+ The confirm and safe_pet options control what happens when
+ you try to move onto a peaceful monster's spot or a tame one's
spot.
- The "nopickup" command prefix (default `m') is also the
+ The "nopickup" command prefix (default `m') is also the
move-without-attacking prefix and can be used to try to step onto
a visible monster's spot without the move being considered an at-
- tack (see the Fighting subsection of Monsters below). The
- "fight" command prefix (default `F'; also `-' if number_pad is
+ tack (see the Fighting subsection of Monsters below). The
+ "fight" command prefix (default `F'; also `-' if number_pad is
on) can be used to force an attack, when guessing where an unseen
- monster is or when deliberately attacking a peaceful or tame
+ monster is or when deliberately attacking a peaceful or tame
creature.
- The run_mode option controls how frequently the map gets re-
- drawn when moving more than one step in a single command (so when
- rushing, running, or traveling).
- 5.6. Rogue level
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- One dungeon level (occurring in mid to late teens of the
- main dungeon) is a tribute to the ancestor game hack's inspira-
- tion rogue.
- It is usually displayed differently from other levels: pos-
- sibly in characters instead of tiles, or without line-drawing
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 36
+ The run_mode option controls how frequently the map gets re-
+ drawn when moving more than one step in a single command (so when
+ rushing, running, or traveling).
- NetHack Guidebook 36
-
+ 5.6. Rogue level
+ One dungeon level (occurring in mid to late teens of the
+ main dungeon) is a tribute to the ancestor game hack's inspira-
+ tion rogue.
+ It is usually displayed differently from other levels: pos-
+ sibly in characters instead of tiles, or without line-drawing
symbols if already in characters; also, gold is shown as * rather
- than $ and stairs are shown as % rather than < and >. There are
- some minor differences in actual game play: doorways lack doors;
- a scroll, wand, or spell of light used in a room lights up the
- whole room rather than within a radius around your character.
- And monsters represented by lower-case letters aren't randomly
+ than $ and stairs are shown as % rather than < and >. There are
+ some minor differences in actual game play: doorways lack doors;
+ a scroll, wand, or spell of light used in a room lights up the
+ whole room rather than within a radius around your character.
+ And monsters represented by lower-case letters aren't randomly
generated on the rogue level.
- The slight strangeness of this level is a feature, not a
+ The slight strangeness of this level is a feature, not a
bug....
6. Monsters
- Monsters you cannot see are not displayed on the screen.
- Beware! You may suddenly come upon one in a dark place. Some
- magic items can help you locate them before they locate you
+ Monsters you cannot see are not displayed on the screen.
+ Beware! You may suddenly come upon one in a dark place. Some
+ magic items can help you locate them before they locate you
(which some monsters can do very well).
- The commands `/' and `;' may be used to obtain information
- about those monsters who are displayed on the screen. The com-
- mand "#name" (by default bound to `C'), allows you to assign a
- name to a monster, which may be useful to help distinguish one
- from another when multiple monsters are present. Assigning a
+ The commands `/' and `;' may be used to obtain information
+ about those monsters who are displayed on the screen. The com-
+ mand "#name" (by default bound to `C'), allows you to assign a
+ name to a monster, which may be useful to help distinguish one
+ from another when multiple monsters are present. Assigning a
name which is just a space will remove any prior name.
The extended command "#chat" can be used to interact with an
adjacent monster. There is no actual dialog (in other words, you
don't get to choose what you'll say), but chatting with some mon-
- sters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
+ sters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
useful results.
6.1. Fighting
- If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
- to walk into it. Many monsters you find will mind their own
+ If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
+ to walk into it. Many monsters you find will mind their own
business unless you attack them. Some of them are very dangerous
when angered. Remember: discretion is the better part of valor.
- In most circumstances, if you attempt to attack a peaceful
- monster by moving into its location, you'll be asked to confirm
- your intent. By default an answer of `y' acknowledges that in-
- tent, which can be error prone if you're using `y' to move. You
- can set the paranoid_confirmation option to require a response of
- "yes" instead.
-
- If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible, or if you
- are blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
- presence. If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to fight
- it just like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
- ster has moved, you will attack empty air. If you guess that the
- monster has moved and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
- `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't re-
- member a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the
- `F' command.
+ In most circumstances, if you attempt to attack a peaceful
+ monster by moving into its location, you'll be asked to confirm
+ your intent. By default an answer of `y' acknowledges that in-
+ tent, which can be error prone if you're using `y' to move. You
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ can set the paranoid_confirmation option to require a response of
+ "yes" instead.
+
+ If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible, or if you
+ are blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
+ presence. If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to fight
+ it just like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
+ ster has moved, you will attack empty air. If you guess that the
+ monster has moved and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
+ `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't re-
+ member a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the
+ `F' command.
+
6.2. Your pet
You start the game with a little dog (`d'), kitten (`f'), or
- pony (`u'), which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
- sters with you. Like you, your pet needs food to survive. Dogs
- and cats usually feed themselves on fresh carrion and other
- meats; horses need vegetarian food which is harder to come by.
- If you're worried about your pet or want to train it, you can
+ pony (`u'), which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
+ sters with you. Like you, your pet needs food to survive. Dogs
+ and cats usually feed themselves on fresh carrion and other
+ meats; horses need vegetarian food which is harder to come by.
+ If you're worried about your pet or want to train it, you can
feed it, too, by throwing it food. A properly trained pet can be
very useful under certain circumstances.
- Your pet also gains experience from killing monsters, and
- can grow over time, gaining hit points and doing more damage.
- Initially, your pet may even be better at killing things than
+ Your pet also gains experience from killing monsters, and
+ can grow over time, gaining hit points and doing more damage.
+ Initially, your pet may even be better at killing things than
you, which makes pets useful for low-level characters.
- Your pet will follow you up and down staircases if it is
- next to you when you move. Otherwise your pet will be stranded
- and may become wild. Similarly, when you trigger certain types
- of traps which alter your location (for instance, a trap door
- which drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
+ Your pet will follow you up and down staircases if it is
+ next to you when you move. Otherwise your pet will be stranded
+ and may become wild. Similarly, when you trigger certain types
+ of traps which alter your location (for instance, a trap door
+ which drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
accompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind. Your
- pet may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
+ pet may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
with it even if adjacent at the time.
6.3. Steeds
- Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be rid-
+ Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be rid-
den if you have the right equipment and skill. Convincing a wild
- beast to let you saddle it up is difficult to say the least.
- Many a dungeoneer has had to resort to magic and wizardry in or-
+ beast to let you saddle it up is difficult to say the least.
+ Many a dungeoneer has had to resort to magic and wizardry in or-
der to forge the alliance. Once you do have the beast under your
- control however, you can easily climb in and out of the saddle
+ control however, you can easily climb in and out of the saddle
with the "#ride" command. Lead the beast around the dungeon when
riding, in the same manner as you would move yourself. It is the
beast that you will see displayed on the map.
- Riding skill is managed by the "#enhance" command. See the
+ Riding skill is managed by the "#enhance" command. See the
section on Weapon proficiency for more information about that.
- Use the `a' (apply) command and pick a saddle in your inven-
- tory to attempt to put that saddle on an adjacent creature. If
- successful, it will be transferred to that creature's inventory.
- Use the "#loot" command while adjacent to a saddled creature
- to try to remove the saddle from that creature. If successful,
- it will be transferred to your inventory.
- 6.4. Bones levels
- You may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
- ers (or even former incarnations of yourself!) and their personal
- effects. Ghosts are hard to kill, but easy to avoid, since
- they're slow and do little damage. You can plunder the deceased
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 38
- NetHack Guidebook 38
+ Use the `a' (apply) command and pick a saddle in your inven-
+ tory to attempt to put that saddle on an adjacent creature. If
+ successful, it will be transferred to that creature's inventory.
+
+ Use the "#loot" command while adjacent to a saddled creature
+ to try to remove the saddle from that creature. If successful,
+ it will be transferred to your inventory.
+ 6.4. Bones levels
- adventurer's possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
+ You may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
+ ers (or even former incarnations of yourself!) and their personal
+ effects. Ghosts are hard to kill, but easy to avoid, since
+ they're slow and do little damage. You can plunder the deceased
+ adventurer's possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
Beware of whatever killed the former player; it is probably still
lurking around, gloating over its last victory.
6.5. Persistence of Monsters
Monsters (a generic reference which also includes humans and
- pets) are only shown while they can be seen or otherwise sensed.
- Moving to a location where you can't see or sense a monster any
- more will result in it disappearing from your map, similarly if
+ pets) are only shown while they can be seen or otherwise sensed.
+ Moving to a location where you can't see or sense a monster any
+ more will result in it disappearing from your map, similarly if
it is the one who moved rather than you.
- However, if you encounter a monster which you can't see or
- sense--perhaps it is invisible and has just tapped you on the
- noggin--a special "remembered, unseen monster" marker will be
- displayed at the location where you think it is. That will per-
- sist until you have proven that there is no monster there, even
- if the unseen monster moves to another location or you move to a
- spot where the marker's location ordinarily wouldn't be seen any
+ However, if you encounter a monster which you can't see or
+ sense--perhaps it is invisible and has just tapped you on the
+ noggin--a special "remembered, unseen monster" marker will be
+ displayed at the location where you think it is. That will per-
+ sist until you have proven that there is no monster there, even
+ if the unseen monster moves to another location or you move to a
+ spot where the marker's location ordinarily wouldn't be seen any
more.
7. Objects
When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want
to pick it up. In NetHack, this is accomplished automatically by
- walking over the object (unless you turn off the autopickup op-
- tion (see below), or move with the `m' prefix (see above)), or
+ walking over the object (unless you turn off the autopickup op-
+ tion (see below), or move with the `m' prefix (see above)), or
manually by using the `,' command.
- If you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so
- and you won't be able to pick up anything more. Otherwise, it
- will add the object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
+ If you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so
+ and you won't be able to pick up anything more. Otherwise, it
+ will add the object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
picked up.
- As you add items to your inventory, you also add the weight
- of that object to your load. The amount that you can carry de-
- pends on your strength and your constitution. The stronger and
- sturdier you are, the less the additional load will affect you.
+ As you add items to your inventory, you also add the weight
+ of that object to your load. The amount that you can carry de-
+ pends on your strength and your constitution. The stronger and
+ sturdier you are, the less the additional load will affect you.
There comes a point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff
- you are carrying around with you through the dungeon will encum-
- ber you. Your reactions will get slower and you'll burn calories
- faster, requiring food more frequently to cope with it. Eventu-
- ally, you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to discard
- some of what you're carrying or collapse under its weight.
+ you are carrying around with you through the dungeon will
- NetHack will tell you how badly you have loaded yourself.
- If you are encumbered, one of the conditions Burdened, Stressed,
- Strained, Overtaxed, or Overloaded will be shown on the bottom
- line status display.
- When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory let-
- ter. Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
- out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to
- choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 39
- NetHack Guidebook 39
+ encumber you. Your reactions will get slower and you'll burn
+ calories faster, requiring food more frequently to cope with it.
+ Eventually, you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to
+ discard some of what you're carrying or collapse under its
+ weight.
+ NetHack will tell you how badly you have loaded yourself.
+ If you are encumbered, one of the conditions Burdened, Stressed,
+ Strained, Overtaxed, or Overloaded will be shown on the bottom
+ line status display.
- presented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see
- Commands, above).
+ When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory let-
+ ter. Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
+ out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to
+ choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually pre-
+ sented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see Com-
+ mands, above).
Some objects, such as weapons, are easily differentiated.
Others, like scrolls and potions, are given descriptions which
as uncursed. They could just as easily have been described as
unblessed, but the uncursed designation is what you will see
within the game. A "glass half full versus glass half empty"
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 40
+
+
+
situation; make of that what you will.
There are magical means of bestowing or removing curses upon
distinguished in your inventory by the presence of the word
cursed, uncursed, or blessed in the description of the item. In
some cases uncursed will be omitted as being redundant when
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 40
-
-
-
enough other information is displayed. The implicit_uncursed op-
tion can be used to control this; toggle it off to have uncursed
be displayed even when that can be deduced from other attributes.
encumbrance, and proficiency (see below). The monster's armor
class--a general defense rating, not necessarily due to wearing
of armor--is a factor too; also, some monsters are particularly
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 41
+
+
+
vulnerable to certain types of weapons.
Many weapons can be wielded in one hand; some require both
skill, using two weapons at once incurs a penalty in the chance
to hit your target compared to using just one weapon at a time.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 41
-
-
-
There might be times when you'd rather not wield any weapon
at all. To accomplish that, wield `-', or else use the `A' com-
mand which allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
Some characters have the ability to fire a volley of multi-
ple items in a single turn. Knowing how to load several rounds
of ammunition at once--or hold several missiles in your hand--and
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 42
+
+
+
still hit a target is not an easy task. Rangers are among those
who are adept at this task, as are those with a high level of
proficiency in the relevant weapon skill (in bow skill if you're
ing the same number (3, here) as if no limit had been specified.
Once the volley is in motion, all of the items will travel in the
same direction; if the first ones kill a monster, the others can
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 42
-
-
-
still continue beyond that spot.
7.2.2. Weapon proficiency
already reached the limit for this skill). Once such training
reaches the threshold for that next level, you'll be told that
you feel more confident in your skills. At that point you can
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 43
+
+
+
use "#enhance" to increase one or more skills. Such skills are
not increased automatically because there is a limit to your to-
tal overall skills, so you need to actively choose which skills
you normally wield with is considered primary and the other one
is considered secondary. The most noticeable difference is after
you stop--or before you begin, for that matter--wielding two
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 43
-
-
-
weapons at once. The primary is your wielded weapon and the sec-
ondary is just an item in your inventory that's been designated
as alternate weapon.)
Here is a list of the armor class values provided by suits
of armor:
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 44
+
+
+
Dragon scale mail 1
Plate mail, Crystal plate mail 3
Bronze plate mail, Splint mail,
You can also wear other pieces of armor (cloak over suit,
shirt under suit, helmet, gloves, boots, shield) to lower your
armor class even further. Most of these provide a one or two
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 44
-
-
-
point improvement to AC (making the overall value smaller and
eventually negative) but can also be enchanted. Shirts are an
exception; they don't provide any protection unless enchanted.
ly stay fresh, but ice boxes are heavy, and tins take a while to
open.
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 45
+
+
+
When you kill monsters, they usually leave corpses which are
also "food." Many, but not all, of these are edible; some also
give you special powers when you eat them. A good rule of thumb
You can name one food item after something you like to eat
with the fruit option.
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 45
-
-
-
The command to eat food is `e'.
7.5. Scrolls (`?')
things to throw (`t') at them. It is also sometimes very useful
to dip ("#dip") an object into a potion.
- The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).
- 7.7. Wands (`/')
- Wands usually have multiple magical charges. Some types of
- wands require a direction in which to zap them. You can also zap
- them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s' for the direction). Be
- warned, however, for this is often unwise. Other types of wands
- don't require a direction. The number of charges in a wand is
- random and decreases by one whenever you use it.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- When the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-
- tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing happening.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 46
- NetHack Guidebook 46
+ The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).
+ 7.7. Wands (`/')
+ Wands usually have multiple magical charges. Some types of
+ wands require a direction in which to zap them. You can also zap
+ them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s' for the direction). Be
+ warned, however, for this is often unwise. Other types of wands
+ don't require a direction. The number of charges in a wand is
+ random and decreases by one whenever you use it.
+ When the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-
+ tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing happening.
Occasionally, however, it may be possible to squeeze the last few
mana points from an otherwise spent wand, destroying it in the
process. A wand may be recharged by using suitable magic, but
ing a ring and then re-wear them after. That's done implicitly
to avoid unnecessary tedium.
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 47
+
+
+
The commands to use rings are `P' (put on) and `R' (remove).
`A', `W', and `T' can also be used; see Amulets.
A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you cast
it. If you attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
level, or if you have little skill with the appropriate spell
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 47
-
-
-
type, or cast it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
you can end up wasting both the energy and the time required in
casting.
estimate of how strongly it is remembered. The `Z' (cast) com-
mand casts a spell.
- 7.10. Tools (`(')
- Tools are miscellaneous objects with various purposes. Some
- tools have a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges. For
- example, lamps burn out after a while. Other tools are contain-
- ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.
- Some tools (such as a blindfold) can be worn and can be put
- on and removed like other accessories (rings, amulets); see
- Amulets. Other tools (such as pick-axe) can be wielded as
- weapons in addition to being applied for their usual purpose, and
- in some cases (again, pick-axe) become wielded as a weapon even
- when applied.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 48
- NetHack Guidebook 48
+ 7.10. Tools (`(')
+ Tools are miscellaneous objects with various purposes. Some
+ tools have a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges. For
+ example, lamps burn out after a while. Other tools are contain-
+ ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.
+ Some tools (such as a blindfold) can be worn and can be put
+ on and removed like other accessories (rings, amulets); see
+ Amulets. Other tools (such as pick-axe) can be wielded as
+ weapons in addition to being applied for their usual purpose, and
+ in some cases (again, pick-axe) become wielded as a weapon even
+ when applied.
The blind option can be set (prior to game start) to attempt
to play the entire game without being able to see (a self-imposed
shown as likely candidates in a prompt for choosing what to wear
or take off.
- 7.12. Gems (`*')
- Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold.
- They are also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
- Valuable gems increase your score if you bring them with you when
- you exit.
-
- Other small rocks are also categorized as gems, but they are
- much less valuable. All rocks, however, can be used as projec-
- tile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of
- cases, you can still throw them by hand.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
+ NetHack Guidebook 49
- NetHack Guidebook 49
+ 7.12. Gems (`*')
+ Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold.
+ They are also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
+ Valuable gems increase your score if you bring them with you when
+ you exit.
+ Other small rocks are also categorized as gems, but they are
+ much less valuable. All rocks, however, can be used as projec-
+ tile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of
+ cases, you can still throw them by hand.
7.13. Large rocks (``')
cation and move to another location where you can't directly see
that object any more, it will continue to be displayed on your
map. That remains the case even if it is not actually there any
- more--perhaps a monster has picked it up or it has rotted away--
- until you can see or feel that location again. One notable ex-
- ception is that if the object gets covered by the "remembered,
- unseen monster" marker. When that marker is later removed after
- you've verified that no monster is there, you will have forgotten
- that there was any object there regardless of whether the unseen
- monster actually took the object. If the object is still there,
- then once you see or feel that location again you will re-discov-
- er the object and resume remembering it.
-
- The situation is the same for a pile of objects, except that
- only the top item of the pile is displayed. The hilite_pile
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- option can be enabled in order to show an item differently when
- it is the top one of a pile.
+ more--perhaps a monster has picked it up or it has rotted away--
+ until you can see or feel that location again. One notable ex-
+ ception is that if the object gets covered by the "remembered,
+ unseen monster" marker. When that marker is later removed after
+ you've verified that no monster is there, you will have forgotten
+ that there was any object there regardless of whether the unseen
+ monster actually took the object. If the object is still there,
+ then once you see or feel that location again you will re-discov-
+ er the object and resume remembering it.
+
+ The situation is the same for a pile of objects, except that
+ only the top item of the pile is displayed. The hilite_pile op-
+ tion can be enabled in order to show an item differently when it
+ is the top one of a pile.
8. Conduct
(`P') other than the black puddings, eggs and food made from eggs
(fortune cookies and pancakes), food made with milk (cream pies
and candy bars), and lumps of royal jelly. Monks are expected to
- observe a vegetarian diet.
- Eating any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and
- foodless conducts. This includes tripe rations, the corpses or
- tins of any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
- chunks of meat found in the dungeon. Swallowing and digesting a
- monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
- corpse. Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items while poly-
- morphed into a creature that can digest it, or eating monster
- brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating
- an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 51
- NetHack Guidebook 51
+ observe a vegetarian diet.
+ Eating any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and
+ foodless conducts. This includes tripe rations, the corpses or
+ tins of any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
+ chunks of meat found in the dungeon. Swallowing and digesting a
+ monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
+ corpse. Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items while poly-
+ morphed into a creature that can digest it, or eating monster
+ brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating
+ an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.
Regardless of conduct, there will be some items which are
indigestible, and others which are hazardous to eat. Using a
person). Reading an engraving, or any item that is absolutely
necessary to win the game, is not counted against this conduct.
The identity of scrolls and spellbooks (and knowledge of spells)
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 52
+
+
+
in your starting inventory is assumed to be learned from your
teachers prior to the start of the game and isn't counted.
can't be bypassed, such as being unable to push a boulder diago-
nally. Other rules can, such as not smashing boulders with magic
or tools, but doing so causes you to receive a luck penalty. No
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 52
-
-
-
message about that is given at the time, but it is tracked as a
conduct. The #conduct command and end of game disclosure will
report whether you have abided by the special rules of Sokoban,
necessarily in the order in which you might accomplish them.
<Rank> - Attained rank title <Rank>.
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 53
+
+
+
Shop - Entered a shop.
Temple - Entered a temple.
Mines - Entered the Gnomish Mines.
and found a special item there.
Mines' End - Explored to the bottom of the Gnomish Mines
and found a special item there.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 53
-
-
-
Medusa - Defeated Medusa.
Bell - Acquired the Bell of Opening.
Gehennom - Entered Gehennom.
dies.
Blind and Nudist are also conducts, and they can only be en-
- abled by setting the correspondingly named option in NETHACKOP-
- TIONS or run-time configuration file prior to game start. In the
- case of Blind, the option also enforces the conduct. They aren't
- really significant accomplishments unless/until you make substan-
- tial progress into the dungeon.
-
- 9. Options
+ abled by setting the correspondingly named option in
- Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
- NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change
- how NetHack behaves.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 54
- NetHack Guidebook 54
+ NETHACKOPTIONS or run-time configuration file prior to game
+ start. In the case of Blind, the option also enforces the con-
+ duct. They aren't really significant accomplishments unless/un-
+ til you make substantial progress into the dungeon.
+ 9. Options
+ Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
+ NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change
+ how NetHack behaves.
9.1. Setting the options
tered or the file ends. Lines within sections are ignored unless
a CHOOSE directive has selected that section.
- You can use different configuration directives in the file,
- some of which can be used multiple times. In general, the direc-
- tives are written in capital letters, followed by an equals sign,
- followed by settings particular to that directive.
-
- Here is a list of allowed directives:
- OPTIONS
- There are two types of options, boolean and compound options.
- Boolean options toggle a setting on or off, while compound
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 55
- NetHack Guidebook 55
+ You can use different configuration directives in the file,
+ some of which can be used multiple times. In general, the direc-
+ tives are written in capital letters, followed by an equals sign,
+ followed by settings particular to that directive.
+ Here is a list of allowed directives:
- options take more diverse values. Prefix a boolean option with
+ OPTIONS
+ There are two types of options, boolean and compound options.
+ Boolean options toggle a setting on or off, while compound op-
+ tions take more diverse values. Prefix a boolean option with
"no" or `!' to turn it off. For compound options, the option
name and value are separated by a colon. Some options are per-
sistent, and apply only to new games. You can specify multiple
pletion has no effect for the X11 windowport. You can specify
multiple autocompletions. To enable autocompletion, list the
extended command. Prefix the command with "!" to disable the
- autocompletion for that command.
- Example:
- AUTOCOMPLETE=zap,!annotate
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION
- Set exceptions to the pickup_types option. See the "Configur-
- ing Autopickup Exceptions" section.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 56
+ autocompletion for that command.
- NetHack Guidebook 56
+ Example:
+ AUTOCOMPLETE=zap,!annotate
+ AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION
+ Set exceptions to the pickup_types option. See the "Configur-
+ ing Autopickup Exceptions" section.
BINDINGS
Change the key bindings of some special keys, menu accelera-
BOLS below.
SOUND
- Define a sound mapping. See the "Configuring User Sounds" sec-
- tion.
+ Define a sound mapping. See the "Configuring User Sounds"
- SOUNDDIR
- Define the directory that contains the sound files. See the
- "Configuring User Sounds" section.
- SYMBOLS
- Override one or more symbols in the symbol set used for all
- dungeon levels except for the special rogue level. See the
- "Modifying NetHack Symbols" section.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 57
- NetHack Guidebook 57
+ section.
+ SOUNDDIR
+ Define the directory that contains the sound files. See the
+ "Configuring User Sounds" section.
+ SYMBOLS
+ Override one or more symbols in the symbol set used for all
+ dungeon levels except for the special rogue level. See the
+ "Modifying NetHack Symbols" section.
Example:
The NETHACKOPTIONS variable is a comma-separated list of
initial values for the various options. Some can only be turned
on or off. You turn one of these on by adding the name of the
- option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or "no" be-
- fore the name. Others take a character string as a value. You
- can set string options by typing the option name, a colon or
- equals sign, and then the value of the string. The value is ter-
- minated by the next comma or the end of string.
+ option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or "no"
- For example, to set up an environment variable so that color
- is on, legacy is off, character name is set to "Blue Meanie", and
- named fruit is set to "lime", you would enter the command
- % setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "color,\!leg,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:lime"
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 58
- NetHack Guidebook 58
+ before the name. Others take a character string as a value. You
+ can set string options by typing the option name, a colon or
+ equals sign, and then the value of the string. The value is ter-
+ minated by the next comma or the end of string.
+ For example, to set up an environment variable so that color
+ is on, legacy is off, character name is set to "Blue Meanie", and
+ named fruit is set to "lime", you would enter the command
+ % setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "color,\!leg,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:lime"
in csh (note the need to escape the `!' since it's special to
that shell), or the pair of commands
ment from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with the `O'
command. Persistent.
- autodescribe
- Automatically describe the terrain under cursor when asked to
- get a location on the map (default true). The whatis_coord op-
- tion controls whether the description includes map coordinates.
-
- autodig
- Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
- into a place that can be dug (default false). Persistent.
-
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 59
- NetHack Guidebook 59
+ autodescribe
+ Automatically describe the terrain under cursor when asked to
+ get a location on the map (default true). The whatis_coord op-
+ tion controls whether the description includes map coordinates.
+ autodig
+ Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
+ into a place that can be dug (default false). Persistent.
autoopen
Walking into a closed door attempts to open it (default true).
Synonym for "role" to pick the type of your character (for ex-
ample "character:Monk"). See role for more details.
- checkpoint
- Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
- after program crash (default on). Persistent.
-
- clicklook
- Allows looking at things on the screen by navigating the mouse
- over them and clicking the right mouse button (default off).
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 60
- NetHack Guidebook 60
+ checkpoint
+ Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
+ after program crash (default on). Persistent.
+ clicklook
+ Allows looking at things on the screen by navigating the mouse
+ over them and clicking the right mouse button (default off).
cmdassist
Have the game provide some additional command assistance for
answering `y' rather than `a', will default to showing monsters
in the traditional order, from high level to low level.
- Omitted categories are implicitly added with `n' prefix. Spec-
- ified categories with omitted prefix implicitly use `+' prefix.
- Order of the disclosure categories does not matter, program
- display for end-of-game disclosure follows a set sequence.
-
- (for example "disclose:yi na +v -g o") The example sets inven-
- tory to prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt and de-
- fault to no, vanquished to disclose without prompting,
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- genocided to not disclose and not prompt, conduct to implicitly
- prompt and default to no, and overview to disclose without
- prompting.
+ Omitted categories are implicitly added with `n' prefix. Spec-
+ ified categories with omitted prefix implicitly use `+' prefix.
+ Order of the disclosure categories does not matter, program
+ display for end-of-game disclosure follows a set sequence.
+
+ (for example "disclose:yi na +v -g o") The example sets inven-
+ tory to prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt and de-
+ fault to no, vanquished to disclose without prompting, genocid-
+ ed to not disclose and not prompt, conduct to implicitly prompt
+ and default to no, and overview to disclose without prompting.
- Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all monsters
+ Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all monsters
killed by traps and each other as well as by you. And the dun-
geon overview shows all levels you had visited but does not re-
veal things about them that you hadn't discovered.
set with the `O' command.
extmenu
- Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of
+ Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of
available commands. It is keystroke compatible with the tradi-
- tional interface except that it does not require that you hit
+ tional interface except that it does not require that you hit
Enter. It is implemented for the tty interface (default off).
For the X11 interface, which always uses a menu for choosing an
extended command, it controls whether the menu shows all avail-
- able commands (on) or just the subset of commands which have
+ able commands (on) or just the subset of commands which have
traditionally been considered extended ones (off).
female
- An obsolete synonym for "gender:female". Cannot be set with
+ An obsolete synonym for "gender:female". Cannot be set with
the `O' command.
fixinv
- An object's inventory letter sticks to it when it's dropped
- (default on). If this is off, dropping an object shifts all
+ An object's inventory letter sticks to it when it's dropped
+ (default on). If this is off, dropping an object shifts all
the remaining inventory letters. Persistent.
force_invmenu
- Commands asking for an inventory item show a menu instead of a
+ Commands asking for an inventory item show a menu instead of a
text query with possible menu letters. Default is off.
fruit
- Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (for example
- "fruit:mango") (default "slime mold"). Basically a nostalgic
- whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set
- this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold.
- Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
+ Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (for example
+ "fruit:mango") (default "slime mold"). Basically a nostalgic
+ whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set
+ this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold.
+ Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
NetHack, so don't use those.
gender
- Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
- specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
- your gender using the "male" and "female" options, the "gender"
- option will take precedence. The default is to randomly pick
- an appropriate gender. If you prefix the value with `!' or
- "no", you will exclude that gender from being picked randomly.
- Cannot be set with the `O' command. Persistent.
+ Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
+ your gender using the "male" and "female" options, the "gender"
+ option will take precedence. The default is to randomly pick
+ an appropriate gender. If you prefix the value with `!' or
+ "no", you will exclude that gender from being picked randomly.
+ Cannot be set with the `O' command. Persistent.
+
goldX
- When filtering objects based on bless/curse state (BUCX),
- whether to treat gold pieces as X (unknown bless/curse state,
- when "on") or U (known to be uncursed, when "off", the de-
- fault). Gold is never blessed or cursed, but it is not de-
+ When filtering objects based on bless/curse state (BUCX),
+ whether to treat gold pieces as X (unknown bless/curse state,
+ when "on") or U (known to be uncursed, when "off", the de-
+ fault). Gold is never blessed or cursed, but it is not de-
scribed as "uncursed" even when the implicit_uncursed option is
"off".
help
- If more information is available for an object looked at with
+ If more information is available for an object looked at with
the `/' command, ask if you want to see it (default on). Turn-
- ing help off makes just looking at things faster, since you
- aren't interrupted with the "More info?" prompt, but it also
+ ing help off makes just looking at things faster, since you
+ aren't interrupted with the "More info?" prompt, but it also
means that you might miss some interesting and/or important in-
formation. Persistent.
herecmd_menu
- When using a windowport that supports mouse and clicking on
- yourself or next to you, show a menu of possible actions for
- the location. Same as "#herecmdmenu" and "#therecmdmenu" com-
+ When using a windowport that supports mouse and clicking on
+ yourself or next to you, show a menu of possible actions for
+ the location. Same as "#herecmdmenu" and "#therecmdmenu" com-
mands.
hilite_pet
- Visually distinguish pets from similar animals (default off).
- The behavior of this option depends on the type of windowing
+ Visually distinguish pets from similar animals (default off).
+ The behavior of this option depends on the type of windowing
you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or inverse video
- is often used; with tiles, generally displays a heart symbol
+ is often used; with tiles, generally displays a heart symbol
near pets.
- With the curses interface, the petattr option controls how to
- highlight pets and setting it will turn the hilite_pet option
+ With the curses interface, the petattr option controls how to
+ highlight pets and setting it will turn the hilite_pet option
on or off as warranted.
hilite_pile
- Visually distinguish piles of objects from individual objects
+ Visually distinguish piles of objects from individual objects
(default off). The behavior of this option depends on the type
- of windowing you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or
- inverse video is often used; with tiles, generally displays a
+ of windowing you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or
+ inverse video is often used; with tiles, generally displays a
small plus-symbol beside the object on the top of the pile.
hitpointbar
- Show a hit point bar graph behind your name and title. Only
- available for TTY and Windows GUI, and only when statushilites
+ Show a hit point bar graph behind your name and title. Only
+ available for TTY and Windows GUI, and only when statushilites
is on.
horsename
- Name your starting horse (for example "horsename:Trigger").
- Cannot be set with the `O' command.
-
- ignintr
- Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off). Per-
- sistent.
+ Name your starting horse (for example "horsename:Trigger").
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 63
- NetHack Guidebook 63
+ Cannot be set with the `O' command.
+ ignintr
+ Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off). Per-
+ sistent.
implicit_uncursed
Omit "uncursed" from object descriptions when it can be deduced
- from other aspects of the description (default on). Persis-
+ from other aspects of the description (default on). Persis-
tent.
If you use menu coloring, you may want to turn this off.
on). Persistent.
lit_corridor
- Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
+ Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
held by your character as lit (default off). Persistent.
lootabc
- When using a menu to interact with a container, use the old
- `a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts rather than the mnemonics
+ When using a menu to interact with a container, use the old
+ `a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts rather than the mnemonics
`o', `i', and `b' (default off). Persistent.
mail
Enable mail delivery during the game (default on). Persistent.
male
- An obsolete synonym for "gender:male". Cannot be set with the
+ An obsolete synonym for "gender:male". Cannot be set with the
`O' command.
mention_decor
- Give feedback when walking onto various dungeon features such
- as stairs, fountains, or altars which are ordinarily only de-
- scribed when covered by one or more objects (default off).
+ Give feedback when walking onto various dungeon features such
+ as stairs, fountains, or altars which are ordinarily only de-
+ scribed when covered by one or more objects (default off).
Persistent.
mention_walls
- Give feedback when walking against a wall (default off). Per-
+ Give feedback when walking against a wall (default off). Per-
sistent.
menucolors
- Enable coloring menu lines (default off). See "Configuring
+ Enable coloring menu lines (default off). See "Configuring
Menu Colors" on how to configure the colors.
menustyle
Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
- jects (in response to the Drop command, for instance). The
- value specified should be the first letter of one of the fol-
- lowing: traditional, combination, full, or partial. Tradi-
- tional was the only interface available for early versions; it
- consists of a prompt for object class characters, followed by
- an object-by-object prompt for all items matching the selected
- object class(es). Combination starts with a prompt for object
- class(es) of interest, but then displays a menu of matching ob-
- jects rather than prompting one-by-one. Full displays a menu
- of object classes rather than a character prompt, and then a
- menu of matching objects for selection. Partial skips the
+ jects (in response to the Drop command, for instance). The
+ value specified should be the first letter of one of the fol-
+ lowing: traditional, combination, full, or partial. Tradi-
+ tional was the only interface available for early versions; it
+ consists of a prompt for object class characters, followed by
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- object class filtering and immediately displays a menu of all
- objects. Persistent.
+ an object-by-object prompt for all items matching the selected
+ object class(es). Combination starts with a prompt for object
+ class(es) of interest, but then displays a menu of matching ob-
+ jects rather than prompting one-by-one. Full displays a menu
+ of object classes rather than a character prompt, and then a
+ menu of matching objects for selection. Partial skips the ob-
+ ject class filtering and immediately displays a menu of all ob-
+ jects. Persistent.
menu_deselect_all
- Menu character accelerator to deselect all items in a menu.
+ Menu character accelerator to deselect all items in a menu.
Implemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `-'.
menu_deselect_page
- Menu character accelerator to deselect all items on this page
- of a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. De-
+ Menu character accelerator to deselect all items on this page
+ of a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. De-
fault `\'.
menu_first_page
Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `^'.
menu_headings
- Controls how the headings in a menu are highlighted. Values
- are "none", "bold", "dim", "underline", "blink", or "inverse".
+ Controls how the headings in a menu are highlighted. Values
+ are "none", "bold", "dim", "underline", "blink", or "inverse".
Not all ports can actually display all types.
menu_invert_all
- Menu character accelerator to invert all items in a menu. Im-
+ Menu character accelerator to invert all items in a menu. Im-
plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `@'.
menu_invert_page
- Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this page of
- a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
+ Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this page of
+ a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
`~'.
menu_last_page
- Menu character accelerator to jump to the last page in a menu.
+ Menu character accelerator to jump to the last page in a menu.
Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `|'.
menu_next_page
- Menu character accelerator to goto the next menu page. Imple-
+ Menu character accelerator to goto the next menu page. Imple-
mented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `>'.
menu_objsyms
- Show object symbols in menu headings in menus where the object
+ Show object symbols in menu headings in menus where the object
symbols act as menu accelerators (default off).
menu_overlay
- Do not clear the screen before drawing menus, and align menus
- to the right edge of the screen. Only for the tty port. (de-
+ Do not clear the screen before drawing menus, and align menus
+ to the right edge of the screen. Only for the tty port. (de-
fault on)
- menu_previous_page
- Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page. Im-
- plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `<'.
- menu_search
- Menu character accelerator to search for a menu item. Imple-
- mented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `:'.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- menu_select_all
- Menu character accelerator to select all items in a menu. Im-
- plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `.'.
-
- menu_select_page
- Menu character accelerator to select all items on this page of
- a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
+ menu_previous_page
+ Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page. Im-
+ plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `<'.
+
+ menu_search
+ Menu character accelerator to search for a menu item. Imple-
+ mented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `:'.
+
+ menu_select_all
+ Menu character accelerator to select all items in a menu. Im-
+ plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `.'.
+
+ menu_select_page
+ Menu character accelerator to select all items on this page of
+ a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
`,'.
monpolycontrol
off). Debug mode only.
mouse_support
- Allow use of the mouse for input and travel. Valid settings
+ Allow use of the mouse for input and travel. Valid settings
are:
0 - disabled
1 - enabled and make OS adjustments to support mouse use
2 - like 1 but does not make any OS adjustments
- Omitting a value is the same as specifying 1 and negating
+ Omitting a value is the same as specifying 1 and negating
mouse_support is the same as specifying 0.
msghistory
- The number of top line messages to keep (and be able to recall
+ The number of top line messages to keep (and be able to recall
with `^P') (default 20). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
msg_window
- Allows you to change the way recalled messages are displayed.
- Currently it is only supported for tty (all four choices) and
- for curses (`f' and `r' choices, default `r'). The possible
+ Allows you to change the way recalled messages are displayed.
+ Currently it is only supported for tty (all four choices) and
+ for curses (`f' and `r' choices, default `r'). The possible
values are:
s - single message (default; only choice prior to 3.4.0);
f - full window, oldest message first;
r - full window reversed, newest message first.
- For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified
- (which defaults to "full"), or it can be negated (which
+ For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified
+ (which defaults to "full"), or it can be negated (which
defaults to "single").
name
- Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
- can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
- or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
- -C -H -K -M -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W). If -@ is used for the
- role, then a random one will be automatically chosen. Cannot
- be set with the `O' command.
-
- news
- Read the NetHack news file, if present (default on). Since the
- news is shown at the beginning of the game, there's no point in
+ Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
+ can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
+ -C -H -K -M -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W). If -@ is used for the
+ role, then a random one will be automatically chosen. Cannot
+ be set with the `O' command.
+
+ news
+ Read the NetHack news file, if present (default on). Since the
+ news is shown at the beginning of the game, there's no point in
setting this with the `O' command.
nudist
Send padding nulls to the terminal (default on). Persistent.
number_pad
- Use digit keys instead of letters to move (default 0 or off).
+ Use digit keys instead of letters to move (default 0 or off).
Valid settings are:
0 - move by letters; "yuhjklbn"
4 - combines 3 with 2; phone layout plus MS-DOS compatibility
-1 - by letters but use `z' to go northwest, `y' to zap wands
- For backward compatibility, omitting a value is the same as
- specifying 1 and negating number_pad is the same as specifying
- 0. (Settings 2 and 4 are for compatibility with MS-DOS or old
+ For backward compatibility, omitting a value is the same as
+ specifying 1 and negating number_pad is the same as specifying
+ 0. (Settings 2 and 4 are for compatibility with MS-DOS or old
PC Hack; in addition to the different behavior for `5', `Alt-5'
acts as `G' and `Alt-0' acts as `I'. Setting -1 is to accommo-
- date some QWERTZ keyboards which have the location of the `y'
- and `z' keys swapped.) When moving by numbers, to enter a
+ date some QWERTZ keyboards which have the location of the `y'
+ and `z' keys swapped.) When moving by numbers, to enter a
count prefix for those commands which accept one (such as "12s"
- to search twelve times), precede it with the letter `n'
+ to search twelve times), precede it with the letter `n'
("n12s").
packorder
- Specify the order to list object types in (default
+ Specify the order to list object types in (default
"")[%?+!=/(*`0_"). The value of this option should be a string
containing the symbols for the various object types. Any omit-
ted types are filled in at the end from the previous order.
paranoid_confirmation
- A space separated list of specific situations where alternate
- prompting is desired. The default is paranoid_confirma-
+ A space separated list of specific situations where alternate
+ prompting is desired. The default is paranoid_confirma-
tion:pray.
- Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes"
- rather than `y', also require "no" to reject in-
+ Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes"
+ rather than `y', also require "no" to reject in-
stead of accepting any non-yes response as no
quit - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm quitting
- the game or switching into non-scoring explore
- mode;
- die - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm dying
- (not useful in normal play; applies to explore
- mode);
- bones - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm saving
- bones data when dying in debug mode;
- attack - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm attack-
- ing a peaceful monster;
+ the game or switching into non-scoring explore
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ mode;
+ die - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm dying
+ (not useful in normal play; applies to explore
+ mode);
+ bones - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm saving
+ bones data when dying in debug mode;
+ attack - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm attack-
+ ing a peaceful monster;
wand-break - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm breaking
a wand;
- eating - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm whether
+ eating - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm whether
to continue eating;
Were-change - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm changing
- form due to lycanthropy when hero has polymorph
+ form due to lycanthropy when hero has polymorph
control;
- pray - require `y' to confirm an attempt to pray rather
+ pray - require `y' to confirm an attempt to pray rather
than immediately praying; on by default;
- Remove - require selection from inventory for `R' and `T'
- commands even when wearing just one applicable
+ Remove - require selection from inventory for `R' and `T'
+ commands even when wearing just one applicable
item.
all - turn on all of the above.
- By default, the pray choice is enabled, the others disabled.
- To disable it without setting any of the other choices, use
+ By default, the pray choice is enabled, the others disabled.
+ To disable it without setting any of the other choices, use
"paranoid_confirmation:none". To keep it enabled while setting
- any of the others, include it in the list, such as "para-
+ any of the others, include it in the list, such as "para-
noid_confirmation:attack pray Remove".
perm_invent
- If true, always display your current inventory in a window.
- This only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that im-
+ If true, always display your current inventory in a window.
+ This only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that im-
plement this feature.
petattr
- Specifies one or more text highlighting attributes to use when
- showing pets on the map. Effectively a superset of the
+ Specifies one or more text highlighting attributes to use when
+ showing pets on the map. Effectively a superset of the
hilite_pet boolean option. Curses interface only; value is one
or more of the following letters.
l - Left line indicator
r - Right line indicator
- Some of those choices might not work, particularly the final
- three, depending upon terminal hardware or terminal emulation
+ Some of those choices might not work, particularly the final
+ three, depending upon terminal hardware or terminal emulation
software.
- Currently multiple highlight-style letters can be combined by
- simply stringing them together (for example, "bk"), but in the
- future they might require being separated by plus signs (such
- as "b+k", which works already). When using the `n' choice, it
- should be specified on its own, not in combination with any of
- the other letters.
- pettype
- Specify the type of your initial pet, if you are playing a
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- character class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose to
- have no initial pet at all. Possible values are "cat", "dog",
+ Currently multiple highlight-style letters can be combined by
+ simply stringing them together (for example, "bk"), but in the
+ future they might require being separated by plus signs (such
+ as "b+k", which works already). When using the `n' choice, it
+ should be specified on its own, not in combination with any of
+ the other letters.
+
+ pettype
+ Specify the type of your initial pet, if you are playing a
+ character class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose to
+ have no initial pet at all. Possible values are "cat", "dog",
"horse", and "none". If the choice is not allowed for the role
- you are currently playing, it will be silently ignored. For
- example, "horse" will only be honored when playing a knight.
+ you are currently playing, it will be silently ignored. For
+ example, "horse" will only be honored when playing a knight.
Cannot be set with the `O' command.
pickup_burden
- When you pick up an item that would exceed this encumbrance
- level (Unencumbered, Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed,
- or overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to continue.
+ When you pick up an item that would exceed this encumbrance
+ level (Unencumbered, Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed,
+ or overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to continue.
(Default `S'). Persistent.
pickup_thrown
- If this option is on and autopickup is also on, try to pick up
- things that you threw, even if they aren't in pickup_types or
+ If this option is on and autopickup is also on, try to pick up
+ things that you threw, even if they aren't in pickup_types or
match an autopickup exception. Default is on. Persistent.
pickup_types
sistent.
pile_limit
- When walking across a pile of objects on the floor, threshold
- at which the message "there are few/several/many objects here"
- is given instead of showing a popup list of those objects. A
- value of 0 means "no limit" (always list the objects); a value
- of 1 effectively means "never show the objects" since the pile
- size will always be at least that big; default value is 5.
+ When walking across a pile of objects on the floor, threshold
+ at which the message "there are few/several/many objects here"
+ is given instead of showing a popup list of those objects. A
+ value of 0 means "no limit" (always list the objects); a value
+ of 1 effectively means "never show the objects" since the pile
+ size will always be at least that big; default value is 5.
Persistent.
playmode
- Values are "normal", "explore", or "debug". Allows selection
- of explore mode (also known as discovery mode) or debug mode
+ Values are "normal", "explore", or "debug". Allows selection
+ of explore mode (also known as discovery mode) or debug mode
(also known as wizard mode) instead of normal play. Debug mode
- might only be allowed for someone logged in under a particular
- user name (on multi-user systems) or specifying a particular
+ might only be allowed for someone logged in under a particular
+ user name (on multi-user systems) or specifying a particular
character name (on single-user systems) or it might be disabled
- entirely. Requesting it when not allowed or not possible re-
+ entirely. Requesting it when not allowed or not possible re-
sults in explore mode instead. Default is normal play.
pushweapon
- Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
- pushes the old item into your alternate weapon slot (default
- off). Likewise for the `a' (apply) command if it causes the
- applied item to become wielded. Persistent.
-
- quick_farsight
- When set, usually prevents the "you sense your surroundings"
- message where play pauses to allow you to browse the map when-
- ever clairvoyance randomly activates. Some situations, such as
- being underwater or engulfed, ignore this option. It does not
+ Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+ pushes the old item into your alternate weapon slot (default
+ off). Likewise for the `a' (apply) command if it causes the
+ applied item to become wielded. Persistent.
+
+ quick_farsight
+ When set, usually prevents the "you sense your surroundings"
+ message where play pauses to allow you to browse the map when-
+ ever clairvoyance randomly activates. Some situations, such as
+ being underwater or engulfed, ignore this option. It does not
affect the clairvoyance spell where pausing to examine revealed
- objects or monsters is less intrusive. Default is off. Per-
+ objects or monsters is less intrusive. Default is off. Per-
sistent.
race
Selects your race (for example, "race:human"). Default is ran-
- dom. If you prefix the value with `!' or "no", you will ex-
+ dom. If you prefix the value with `!' or "no", you will ex-
clude that race from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with
the `O' command. Persistent.
rest_on_space
- Make the space bar a synonym for the `.' (#wait) command (de-
+ Make the space bar a synonym for the `.' (#wait) command (de-
fault off). Persistent.
role
- Pick your type of character (for example "role:Samurai"); syn-
- onym for "character". See "name" for an alternate method of
- specifying your role. Normally only the first letter of the
- value is examined; `r' is an exception with "Rogue", "Ranger",
+ Pick your type of character (for example "role:Samurai"); syn-
+ onym for "character". See "name" for an alternate method of
+ specifying your role. Normally only the first letter of the
+ value is examined; `r' is an exception with "Rogue", "Ranger",
and "random" values. If you prefix the value with `!' or "no",
- you will exclude that role from being picked randomly. Cannot
+ you will exclude that role from being picked randomly. Cannot
be set with the `O' command. Persistent.
roguesymset
- This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
- found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
+ This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
+ found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
screen on the rogue level.
rlecomp
When writing out a save file, perform run length compression of
- the map. Not all ports support run length compression. It has
+ the map. Not all ports support run length compression. It has
no effect on reading an existing save file.
runmode
- Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when
- engaged in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
- control+direction and so forth, or via the travel command or
+ Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when
+ engaged in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
+ control+direction and so forth, or via the travel command or
mouse click). The possible values are:
teleport - update the map after movement has finished;
walk - update the map after each step;
crawl - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.
- This option only affects the game's screen display, not the ac-
- tual results of moving. The default is "run"; versions prior
- to 3.4.1 used "teleport" only. Whether or not the effect is
- noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
- of terminal. Persistent.
+ This option only affects the game's screen display, not the
- safe_pet
- Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
- Persistent.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 70
- NetHack Guidebook 70
+ actual results of moving. The default is "run"; versions prior
+ to 3.4.1 used "teleport" only. Whether or not the effect is
+ noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
+ of terminal. Persistent.
+ safe_pet
+ Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
+ Persistent.
safe_wait
- Prevents you from waiting or searching when next to a hostile
+ Prevents you from waiting or searching when next to a hostile
monster (default on). Persistent.
sanity_check
off). Debug mode only.
scores
- Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end
- (for example "scores:5 top scores/4 around my score/own
+ Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end
+ (for example "scores:5 top scores/4 around my score/own
scores"). Only the first letter of each category (`t', `a', or
`o') is necessary. Persistent.
off). Persistent.
showrace
- Display yourself as the glyph for your race, rather than the
- glyph for your role (default off). Note that this setting af-
- fects only the appearance of the display, not the way the game
+ Display yourself as the glyph for your race, rather than the
+ glyph for your role (default off). Note that this setting af-
+ fects only the appearance of the display, not the way the game
treats you. Persistent.
showscore
silent
Suppress terminal beeps (default on). Persistent.
- sortloot
- Controls the sorting behavior of the pickup lists for inventory
- and #loot commands and some others. Persistent. The possible
- values are:
+ sortdiscoveries
+ Controls the sorting behavior for the output of the `\' and ``'
+ commands. Persistent.
- full - always sort the lists;
- loot - only sort the lists that don't use inventory letters,
- like with the #loot and pickup commands;
- none - show lists the traditional way without sorting.
+ The possible values are:
- sortpack
- Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
- fault on). Persistent.
+ o - list object types by class, in discovery order within each
+ class; default;
+ s - list object types by sortloot classification: by class, by
+ sub-class within class for classes which have substantial
+ groupings (like helmets, boots, gloves, and so forth for
+ armor), with object types partly-discovered via assigned
+ name coming before fully identified types;
+ c - list by class, alphabetically within each class;
- sparkle
- Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
- hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on). Per-
- sistent.
- standout
- Boldface monsters and "--More--" (default off). Persistent.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack Guidebook 71
+ a - list alphabetically across all classes.
- NetHack Guidebook 71
+ Can be interactively set via the `O' command or via using the
+ `m' prefix before the `\' or ``' command.
+
+ sortloot
+ Controls the sorting behavior of the pickup lists for inventory
+ and #loot commands and some others. Persistent.
+
+ The possible values are:
+
+ full - always sort the lists;
+ loot - only sort the lists that don't use inventory letters,
+ like with the #loot and pickup commands;
+ none - show lists the traditional way without sorting; default.
+
+ sortpack
+ Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
+ fault on). Persistent.
+ sparkle
+ Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
+ hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on). Per-
+ sistent.
+ standout
+ Boldface monsters and "--More--" (default off). Persistent.
statushilites
- Controls how many turns status hilite behaviors highlight the
- field. If negated or set to zero, disables status hiliting.
+ Controls how many turns status hilite behaviors highlight the
+ field. If negated or set to zero, disables status hiliting.
See "Configuring Status Hilites" for further information.
status_updates
- Allow updates to the status lines at the bottom of the screen
+ Allow updates to the status lines at the bottom of the screen
(default true).
suppress_alert
- This option may be set to a NetHack version level to suppress
- alert notification messages about feature changes for that and
+ This option may be set to a NetHack version level to suppress
+ alert notification messages about feature changes for that and
prior versions (for example "suppress_alert:3.3.1").
symset
- This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
- found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
- screen. Use "symset:default" to explicitly select the default
+ This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
+ found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
+ screen. Use "symset:default" to explicitly select the default
symbols.
time
- Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default
+ Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default
off). Persistent.
timed_delay
- When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as with ex-
- plosions and moving objects, use a timer rather than sending
- extra characters to the screen. (Applies to "tty" interface
+ When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as with
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 72
+
+
+
+ explosions and moving objects, use a timer rather than sending
+ extra characters to the screen. (Applies to "tty" interface
only; "X11" interface always uses a timer based delay. The de-
fault is on if configured into the program.) Persistent.
toptenwin
Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout
- (default off). Setting this option makes the score list visi-
- ble when a windowing version of NetHack is started without a
- parent window, but it no longer leaves the score list around
+ (default off). Setting this option makes the score list visi-
+ ble when a windowing version of NetHack is started without a
+ parent window, but it no longer leaves the score list around
after game end on a terminal or emulating window.
travel
Allow the travel command via mouse click (default on). Turning
this option off will prevent the game from attempting unintend-
- ed moves if you make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map win-
- dow. Does not affect traveling via the `_' ("#travel") com-
+ ed moves if you make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map win-
+ dow. Does not affect traveling via the `_' ("#travel") com-
mand. Persistent.
verbose
- Provide more commentary during the game (default on). Persis-
+ Provide more commentary during the game (default on). Persis-
tent.
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 72
-
-
-
whatis_coord
- When using the `/' or `;' commands to look around on the map
- with autodescribe on, display coordinates after the descrip-
- tion. Also works in other situations where you are asked to
+ When using the `/' or `;' commands to look around on the map
+ with autodescribe on, display coordinates after the descrip-
+ tion. Also works in other situations where you are asked to
pick a location.
The possible settings are:
whatis_filter
When getting a location on the map, and using the keys to cycle
- through next and previous targets, allows filtering the possi-
+ through next and previous targets, allows filtering the possi-
ble targets.
n - no filtering [default]
v - in view only
a - in same area only
- The area-filter tries to be slightly predictive--if you're
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 73
+
+
+
+ The area-filter tries to be slightly predictive--if you're
standing on a doorway, it will consider the area on the side of
the door you were last moving towards.
- Filtering can also be changed when getting a location with the
+ Filtering can also be changed when getting a location with the
"getpos.filter" key.
whatis_menu
- When getting a location on the map, and using a key to cycle
+ When getting a location on the map, and using a key to cycle
through next and previous targets, use a menu instead to pick a
target. (default off)
whatis_moveskip
- When getting a location on the map, and using shifted movement
+ When getting a location on the map, and using shifted movement
keys or meta-digit keys to fast-move, instead of moving 8 units
at a time, move by skipping the same glyphs. (default off)
windowtype
When the program has been built to support multiple interfaces,
- select which one to use, such as "tty" or "X11" (default de-
+ select which one to use, such as "tty" or "X11" (default de-
pends on build-time settings; use "#version" to check). Cannot
be set with the `O' command.
- When used, it should be the first option set since its value
- might enable or disable the availability of various other op-
- tions. For multiple lines in a configuration file, that would
- be the first non-comment line. For a comma-separated list in
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 73
-
-
-
+ When used, it should be the first option set since its value
+ might enable or disable the availability of various other op-
+ tions. For multiple lines in a configuration file, that would
+ be the first non-comment line. For a comma-separated list in
NETHACKOPTIONS or an OPTIONS line in a configuration file, that
would be the rightmost option in the list.
off). Debug mode only.
zerocomp
- When writing out a save file, perform zero-comp compression of
- the contents. Not all ports support zero-comp compression. It
+ When writing out a save file, perform zero-comp compression of
+ the contents. Not all ports support zero-comp compression. It
has no effect on reading an existing save file.
9.5. Window Port Customization options
- Here are explanations of the various options that are used
- to customize and change the characteristics of the windowtype
+ Here are explanations of the various options that are used
+ to customize and change the characteristics of the windowtype
that you have chosen. Character strings that are too long may be
- truncated. Not all window ports will adjust for all settings
- listed here. You can safely add any of these options to your
- configuration file, and if the window port is capable of adjust-
- ing to suit your preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it
- can't it will silently ignore it. You can find out if an option
- is supported by the window port that you are currently using by
+ truncated. Not all window ports will adjust for all settings
+ listed here. You can safely add any of these options to your
+ configuration file, and if the window port is capable of adjust-
+ ing to suit your preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it
+ can't it will silently ignore it. You can find out if an option
+ is supported by the window port that you are currently using by
checking to see if it shows up in the Options list. Some options
- are dynamic and can be specified during the game with the `O'
+ are dynamic and can be specified during the game with the `O'
command.
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 74
+
+
+
align_message
- Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left,
+ Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left,
or right)
align_status
- Where to align or place the status window (top, bottom, left,
+ Where to align or place the status window (top, bottom, left,
or right).
ascii_map
- If NetHack can, it should display the map using simple charac-
- ters (letters and punctuation) rather than tiles graphics. In
- some cases, characters can be augmented with line-drawing sym-
- bols; use the symset option to select a symbol set such as
+ If NetHack can, it should display the map using simple charac-
+ ters (letters and punctuation) rather than tiles graphics. In
+ some cases, characters can be augmented with line-drawing sym-
+ bols; use the symset option to select a symbol set such as
DECgraphics or IBMgraphics if your display supports them. Set-
ting ascii_map to True forces tiled_map to be False.
monsters, objects, and dungeon features.
eight_bit_tty
- If NetHack can, it should pass eight-bit character values (for
- example, specified with the traps option) straight through to
+ If NetHack can, it should pass eight-bit character values (for
+ example, specified with the traps option) straight through to
your terminal (default off).
font_map
if NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for the
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 74
-
-
-
map window.
font_menu
- If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
+ If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
menu windows.
font_message
status window.
font_text
- If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
+ If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
text windows.
font_size_map
- If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the map win-
+ If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the map win-
dow.
font_size_menu
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for menu windows.
font_size_message
- If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the message
+ If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the message
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 75
+
+
+
window.
font_size_status
- If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the status
+ If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the status
window.
font_size_text
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for text windows.
fullscreen
- If NetHack can, it should try and display on the entire screen
+ If NetHack can, it should try and display on the entire screen
rather than in a window.
guicolor
- Use color text and/or highlighting attributes when displaying
- some non-map data (such as menu selector letters). Curses in-
+ Use color text and/or highlighting attributes when displaying
+ some non-map data (such as menu selector letters). Curses in-
terface only; default is on.
large_font
If NetHack can, it should use a large font.
map_mode
- If NetHack can, it should display the map in the manner speci-
+ If NetHack can, it should display the map in the manner speci-
fied.
player_selection
- If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 75
-
-
-
+ If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts
for character selection.
popup_dialog
preload_tiles
If NetHack can, it should preload tiles into memory. For exam-
- ple, in the protected mode MS-DOS version, control whether
- tiles get pre-loaded into RAM at the start of the game. Doing
- so enhances performance of the tile graphics, but uses more
+ ple, in the protected mode MS-DOS version, control whether
+ tiles get pre-loaded into RAM at the start of the game. Doing
+ so enhances performance of the tile graphics, but uses more
memory. (default on). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
scroll_amount
- If NetHack can, it should scroll the display by this number of
+ If NetHack can, it should scroll the display by this number of
cells when the hero reaches the scroll_margin.
scroll_margin
- If NetHack can, it should scroll the display when the hero or
- cursor is this number of cells away from the edge of the win-
+ If NetHack can, it should scroll the display when the hero or
+ cursor is this number of cells away from the edge of the win-
dow.
selectsaved
- If NetHack can, it should display a menu of existing saved
+ If NetHack can, it should display a menu of existing saved
games for the player to choose from at game startup, if it can.
Not all ports support this option.
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 76
+
+
+
softkeyboard
- Display an onscreen keyboard. Handhelds are most likely to
+ Display an onscreen keyboard. Handhelds are most likely to
support this option.
splash_screen
it starts up (default yes).
statuslines
- Number of lines for traditional below-the-map status display.
+ Number of lines for traditional below-the-map status display.
Acceptable values are 2 and 3 (default is 2).
- For 3, the tty interface moves some fields around and mainly
- shows status conditions on their own line. A display capable
- of showing at least 25 lines is recommended. The value can be
+ For 3, the tty interface moves some fields around and mainly
+ shows status conditions on their own line. A display capable
+ of showing at least 25 lines is recommended. The value can be
toggled back and forth during the game with the `O' command.
- The curses interface does likewise if the align_status option
- is set to top or bottom but ignores statuslines when set to
+ The curses interface does likewise if the align_status option
+ is set to top or bottom but ignores statuslines when set to
left or right.
- The Qt interface already displays more than 3 lines for status
- so uses the statuslines value differently. A value of 3 ren-
- ders status in the Qt interface's original format, with the
+ The Qt interface already displays more than 3 lines for status
+ so uses the statuslines value differently. A value of 3 ren-
+ ders status in the Qt interface's original format, with the
status window spread out vertically. A value of 2 makes status
be slightly condensed, moving some fields to different lines to
- eliminate one whole line, reducing the height needed. For Qt,
- statuslines can only be set in the configuration file or via
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 76
-
-
-
+ eliminate one whole line, reducing the height needed. For Qt,
+ statuslines can only be set in the configuration file or via
NETHACKOPTIONS, not with the `O' command.
term_cols and
term_rows
- Curses interface only. Number of columns and rows to use for
+ Curses interface only. Number of columns and rows to use for
the display. Curses will attempt to resize to the values spec-
- ified but will settle for smaller sizes if they are too big.
+ ified but will settle for smaller sizes if they are too big.
Default is the current window size.
tile_file
- Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
+ Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
default.
tile_height
- Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
+ Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
port.
tile_width
Specify the preferred width of each tile in a tile capable port
tiled_map
- If NetHack can, it should display the map using tiles graphics
- rather than simple characters (letters and punctuation, possi-
- bly augmented by line-drawing symbols). Setting tiled_map to
+ If NetHack can, it should display the map using tiles graphics
+ rather than simple characters (letters and punctuation, possi-
+ bly augmented by line-drawing symbols). Setting tiled_map to
True forces ascii_map to be False.
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 77
+
+
+
use_darkgray
Use bold black instead of blue for black glyphs (TTY only).
use_inverse
- If NetHack can, it should display inverse when the game speci-
+ If NetHack can, it should display inverse when the game speci-
fies it.
vary_msgcount
- If NetHack can, it should display this number of messages at a
+ If NetHack can, it should display this number of messages at a
time in the message window.
windowborders
- Whether to draw boxes around the map, status area, message
- area, and persistent inventory window if enabled. Curses in-
+ Whether to draw boxes around the map, status area, message
+ area, and persistent inventory window if enabled. Curses in-
terface only. Acceptable values are
0 - off, never show borders
1 - on, always show borders
2 - auto, on if display is at least (24+2)x(80+2) (default)
- (The 26x82 size threshold for `2' refers to number of rows and
- columns of the display. A width of at least 110 columns
+ (The 26x82 size threshold for `2' refers to number of rows and
+ columns of the display. A width of at least 110 columns
(80+2+26+2) is needed for align_status set to left or right.)
windowcolors
- If NetHack can, it should display windows with the specified
+ If NetHack can, it should display windows with the specified
foreground/background colors. Windows GUI only. The format is
+ OPTION=windowcolors:wintype foreground/background
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ where wintype is one of "menu", "message", "status", or
+ "text", and foreground and background are colors, either a hexa-
+ decimal \'#rrggbb', one of the named colors (black, red, green,
+ brown, blue, magenta, cyan, orange, brightgreen, yellow, bright-
+ blue, brightmagenta, brightcyan, white, trueblack, gray, purple,
+ silver, maroon, fuchsia, lime, olive, navy, teal, aqua), or one
+ of Windows UI colors (activeborder, activecaption, appworkspace,
+ background, btnface, btnshadow, btntext, captiontext, graytext,
+ greytext, highlight, highlighttext, inactiveborder, inactivecap-
+ tion, menu, menutext, scrollbar, window, windowframe, window-
+ text).
+ wraptext
+ If NetHack can, it should wrap long lines of text if they don't
+ fit in the visible area of the window.
+ 9.6. Platform-specific Customization options
+ Here are explanations of options that are used by specific
+ platforms or ports to customize and change the port behavior.
+ altkeyhandler
+ Select an alternate keystroke handler dll to load (Win32 tty
+ NetHack only). The name of the handler is specified without
- NetHack Guidebook 77
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- OPTION=windowcolors:wintype foreground/background
- where wintype is one of "menu", "message", "status", or
- "text", and foreground and background are colors, either a hexa-
- decimal \'#rrggbb', one of the named colors (black, red, green,
- brown, blue, magenta, cyan, orange, brightgreen, yellow, bright-
- blue, brightmagenta, brightcyan, white, trueblack, gray, purple,
- silver, maroon, fuchsia, lime, olive, navy, teal, aqua), or one
- of Windows UI colors (activeborder, activecaption, appworkspace,
- background, btnface, btnshadow, btntext, captiontext, graytext,
- greytext, highlight, highlighttext, inactiveborder, inactivecap-
- tion, menu, menutext, scrollbar, window, windowframe, window-
- text).
- wraptext
- If NetHack can, it should wrap long lines of text if they don't
- fit in the visible area of the window.
- 9.6. Platform-specific Customization options
+ NetHack Guidebook 78
+
- Here are explanations of options that are used by specific
- platforms or ports to customize and change the port behavior.
- altkeyhandler
- Select an alternate keystroke handler dll to load (Win32 tty
- NetHack only). The name of the handler is specified without
the .dll extension and without any path information. Cannot be
set with the `O' command.
altmeta
On other (non-Amiga) systems where this option is available, it
- can be set to tell NetHack to convert a two character sequence
- beginning with ESC into a meta-shifted version of the second
+ can be set to tell NetHack to convert a two character sequence
+ beginning with ESC into a meta-shifted version of the second
character (default off).
- This conversion is only done for commands, not for other input
+ This conversion is only done for commands, not for other input
prompts. Note that typing one or more digits as a count prefix
- prior to a command--preceded by n if the number_pad option is
+ prior to a command--preceded by n if the number_pad option is
set--is also subject to this conversion, so attempting to abort
- the count by typing ESC will leave NetHack waiting for another
- character to complete the two character sequence. Type a sec-
- ond ESC to finish cancelling such a count. At other prompts a
+ the count by typing ESC will leave NetHack waiting for another
+ character to complete the two character sequence. Type a sec-
+ ond ESC to finish cancelling such a count. At other prompts a
single ESC suffices.
BIOS
Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read
- the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to move) on ma-
- chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
+ the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to move) on ma-
+ chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
PC, and ST NetHack only).
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 78
-
-
-
flush
(default off, Amiga NetHack only).
(default on, Mac NetHack only).
rawio
- Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bullet-
- proof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a printer toggle
- without it) (default off, OS/2, PC, and ST NetHack only).
- Note: DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on. Cannot be set
+ Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bullet-
+ proof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a printer toggle
+ without it) (default off, OS/2, PC, and ST NetHack only).
+ Note: DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on. Cannot be set
with the `O' command.
subkeyvalue
- (Win32 tty NetHack only). May be used to alter the value of
+ (Win32 tty NetHack only). May be used to alter the value of
keystrokes that the operating system returns to NetHack to help
- compensate for international keyboard issues. OPTIONS=subkey-
- value:171/92 will return 92 to NetHack, if 171 was originally
+ compensate for international keyboard issues. OPTIONS=subkey-
+ value:171/92 will return 92 to NetHack, if 171 was originally
going to be returned. You can use multiple subkeyvalue assign-
- ments in the configuration file if needed. Cannot be set with
+ ments in the configuration file if needed. Cannot be set with
the `O' command.
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 79
+
+
+
video
Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only). Values are "autode-
- tect", "default", "vga", or "vesa". Setting "vesa" will cause
+ tect", "default", "vga", or "vesa". Setting "vesa" will cause
the game to display tiles, using the full capability of the VGA
- hardware. Setting "vga" will cause the game to display tiles,
- fixed at 640x480 in 16 colors, a mode that is compatible with
- all VGA hardware. Third party tilesets will probably not work.
- Setting "autodetect" attempts "vesa", then "vga", and finally
- sets "default" if neither of those modes works. Cannot be set
+ hardware. Setting "vga" will cause the game to display tiles,
+ fixed at 640x480 in 16 colors, a mode that is compatible with
+ all VGA hardware. Third party tilesets will probably not work.
+ Setting "autodetect" attempts "vesa", then "vga", and finally
+ sets "default" if neither of those modes works. Cannot be set
with the `O' command.
video_height
- Set the VGA mode resolution height (MS-DOS only, with
+ Set the VGA mode resolution height (MS-DOS only, with
video:vesa)
video_width
- Set the VGA mode resolution width (MS-DOS only, with
+ Set the VGA mode resolution width (MS-DOS only, with
video:vesa)
videocolors
- Set the color palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
- 4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11, (PC NetHack only). The order
- of colors is red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan,
- bright.white, bright.red, bright.green, yellow, bright.blue,
- bright.magenta, and bright.cyan. Cannot be set with the `O'
+ Set the color palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
+ 4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11, (PC NetHack only). The order
+ of colors is red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan,
+ bright.white, bright.red, bright.green, yellow, bright.blue,
+ bright.magenta, and bright.cyan. Cannot be set with the `O'
command.
videoshades
- Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available
+ Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available (de-
+ fault dark normal light, PC NetHack only). If the game display
+ is difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this does
+ not correct the problem, try !color. Cannot be set with the
+ `O' command.
+ 9.7. Regular Expressions
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ Regular expressions are normally POSIX extended regular ex-
+ pressions. It is possible to compile NetHack without regular ex-
+ pression support on a platform where there is no regular expres-
+ sion library. While this is not true of any modern platform, if
+ your NetHack was built this way, patterns are instead glob pat-
+ terns. This applies to Autopickup exceptions, Message types, Menu
+ colors, and User sounds.
+ 9.8. Configuring Autopickup Exceptions
+ You can further refine the behavior of the autopickup option
+ beyond what is available through the pickup_types option.
+ By placing autopickup_exception lines in your configuration
+ file, you can define patterns to be checked when the game is
+ about to autopickup something.
- NetHack Guidebook 79
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- (default dark normal light, PC NetHack only). If the game dis-
- play is difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this
- does not correct the problem, try !color. Cannot be set with
- the `O' command.
- 9.7. Regular Expressions
- Regular expressions are normally POSIX extended regular ex-
- pressions. It is possible to compile NetHack without regular ex-
- pression support on a platform where there is no regular expres-
- sion library. While this is not true of any modern platform, if
- your NetHack was built this way, patterns are instead glob pat-
- terns. This applies to Autopickup exceptions, Message types, Menu
- colors, and User sounds.
- 9.8. Configuring Autopickup Exceptions
- You can further refine the behavior of the autopickup option
- beyond what is available through the pickup_types option.
+ NetHack Guidebook 80
+
- By placing autopickup_exception lines in your configuration
- file, you can define patterns to be checked when the game is
- about to autopickup something.
autopickup_exception
- Sets an exception to the pickup_types option. The autopick-
- up_exception option should be followed by a regular expression
- to be used as a pattern to match against the singular form of
+ Sets an exception to the pickup_types option. The autopick-
+ up_exception option should be followed by a regular expression
+ to be used as a pattern to match against the singular form of
the description of an object at your location.
- In addition, some characters are treated specially if they oc-
+ In addition, some characters are treated specially if they oc-
cur as the first character in the pattern, specifically:
< - always pickup an object that matches rest of pattern;
> - never pickup an object that matches rest of pattern.
- The autopickup_exception rules are processed in the order in
- which they appear in your configuration file, thus allowing a
+ The autopickup_exception rules are processed in the order in
+ which they appear in your configuration file, thus allowing a
later rule to override an earlier rule.
- Exceptions can be set with the `O' command, but because they
- are not included in your configuration file, they won't be in
- effect if you save and then restore your game. autopickup_ex-
+ Exceptions can be set with the `O' command, but because they
+ are not included in your configuration file, they won't be in
+ effect if you save and then restore your game. autopickup_ex-
ception rules and not saved with the game.
Here are some examples:
autopickup_exception=">*corpse"
autopickup_exception=">* cursed*"
- The first example above will result in autopickup of any
- type of arrow. The second example results in the exclusion of
- any corpse from autopickup. The last example results in the
+ The first example above will result in autopickup of any
+ type of arrow. The second example results in the exclusion of
+ any corpse from autopickup. The last example results in the ex-
+ clusion of items known to be cursed from autopickup.
+ 9.9. Changing Key Bindings
+
+ It is possible to change the default key bindings of some
+ special commands, menu accelerator keys, and extended commands,
+ by using BIND stanzas in the configuration file. Format is key,
+ followed by the command to bind to, separated by a colon. The
+ key can be a single character ("x"), a control key ("^X", "C-x"),
+ a meta key ("M-x"), or a three-digit decimal ASCII code.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ For example:
+ BIND=^X:getpos.autodescribe
+ BIND={:menu_first_page
+ BIND=v:loot
+ Extended command keys
+ You can bind multiple keys to the same extended command. Un-
+ bind a key by using "nothing" as the extended command to bind
+ to. You can also bind the "<esc>", "<enter>", and "<space>"
+ keys.
- NetHack Guidebook 80
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- exclusion of items known to be cursed from autopickup.
- 9.9. Changing Key Bindings
- It is possible to change the default key bindings of some
- special commands, menu accelerator keys, and extended commands,
- by using BIND stanzas in the configuration file. Format is key,
- followed by the command to bind to, separated by a colon. The
- key can be a single character ("x"), a control key ("^X", "C-x"),
- a meta key ("M-x"), or a three-digit decimal ASCII code.
- For example:
+ NetHack Guidebook 81
- BIND=^X:getpos.autodescribe
- BIND={:menu_first_page
- BIND=v:loot
- Extended command keys
- You can bind multiple keys to the same extended command. Un-
- bind a key by using "nothing" as the extended command to bind
- to. You can also bind the "<esc>", "<enter>", and "<space>"
- keys.
Menu accelerator keys
- The menu control or accelerator keys can also be rebound via
- OPTIONS lines in the configuration file. You cannot bind ob-
+ The menu control or accelerator keys can also be rebound via
+ OPTIONS lines in the configuration file. You cannot bind ob-
ject symbols into menu accelerators.
Special command keys
- Below are the special commands you can rebind. Some of them
- can be bound to same keys with no problems, others are in the
- same "context", and if bound to same keys, only one of those
- commands will be available. Special command can only be bound
+ Below are the special commands you can rebind. Some of them
+ can be bound to same keys with no problems, others are in the
+ same "context", and if bound to same keys, only one of those
+ commands will be available. Special command can only be bound
to a single key.
count
- Prefix key to start a count, to repeat a command this many
+ Prefix key to start a count, to repeat a command this many
times. With number_pad only. Default is `n'.
doinv
Prefix key to force fight a direction. Default is `F'.
fight.numpad
- Prefix key to force fight a direction. With number_pad only.
+ Prefix key to force fight a direction. With number_pad only.
Default is `-'.
getdir.help
- When asked for a direction, the key to show the help. Default
+ When asked for a direction, the key to show the help. Default
is `?'.
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 81
-
-
-
getdir.self
- When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
+ When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
fault is `.'.
getdir.self2
- When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
+ When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
fault is `s'.
getpos.autodescribe
esting thing. Default is `a'.
getpos.all.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
interesting thing. Default is `A'.
getpos.door.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest door
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest door
or doorway. Default is `d'.
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 82
+
+
+
getpos.door.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
door or doorway. Default is `D'.
getpos.help
- When asked for a location, the key to show help. Default is
+ When asked for a location, the key to show help. Default is
`?'.
getpos.mon.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest mon-
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest mon-
ster. Default is `m'.
getpos.mon.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
monster. Default is `M'.
getpos.obj.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest ob-
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest ob-
ject. Default is `o'.
getpos.obj.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
object. Default is `O'.
getpos.menu
- When asked for a location, and using one of the next or previ-
- ous keys to cycle through targets, toggle showing a menu in-
+ When asked for a location, and using one of the next or previ-
+ ous keys to cycle through targets, toggle showing a menu in-
stead. Default is `!'.
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 82
-
-
-
getpos.moveskip
- When asked for a location, and using the shifted movement keys
- or meta-digit keys to fast-move around, move by skipping the
+ When asked for a location, and using the shifted movement keys
+ or meta-digit keys to fast-move around, move by skipping the
same glyphs instead of by 8 units. Default is `*'.
getpos.filter
When asked for a location, change the filtering mode when using
- one of the next or previous keys to cycle through targets.
- Toggles between no filtering, in view only, and in the same
+ one of the next or previous keys to cycle through targets.
+ Toggles between no filtering, in view only, and in the same
area only. Default is `"'.
getpos.pick
- When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
+ When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
possibly ask for more info. Default is `.'.
getpos.pick.once
- When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
+ When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
skip asking for more info. Default is `,'.
getpos.pick.quick
When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, skip
- asking for more info, and exit the location asking loop. De-
+ asking for more info, and exit the location asking loop. De-
fault is `;'.
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 83
+
+
+
getpos.pick.verbose
- When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
+ When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
show more info without asking. Default is `:'.
getpos.self
fault is `@'.
getpos.unexplored.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest unex-
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest unex-
plored location. Default is `x'.
getpos.unexplored.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
unexplored location. Default is `X'.
getpos.valid
- When asked for a location, the key to go to show valid target
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to show valid target
locations. Default is `$'.
getpos.valid.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest valid
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest valid
location. Default is `z'.
getpos.valid.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
valid location. Default is `Z'.
nopickup
Prefix key to move without picking up items. Default is `m'.
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 83
-
-
-
redraw
Key to redraw the screen. Default is `^R'.
redraw.numpad
- Key to redraw the screen. With number_pad only. Default is
+ Key to redraw the screen. With number_pad only. Default is
`^L'.
repeat
Prefix key to run towards a direction. Default is `G'.
run.nopickup
- Prefix key to run towards a direction without picking up items
+ Prefix key to run towards a direction without picking up items
on the way. Default is `M'.
run.numpad
Prefix key to run towards a direction. With number_pad only.
- Default is `5' when number_pad is set to 1 or 3, otherwise
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 84
+
+
+
+ Default is `5' when number_pad is set to 1 or 3, otherwise
`M-5' when it is set to 2 or 4.
rush
rush.numpad
Prefix key to rush towards a direction. With number_pad only.
- Default is `M-5' when number_pad is set to 1 or 3, otherwise
+ Default is `M-5' when number_pad is set to 1 or 3, otherwise
`5' when it is set to 2 or 4.
9.10. Configuring Message Types
You can change the way the messages are shown in the message
area, when the message matches a user-defined pattern.
- In general, the configuration file entries to describe the
+ In general, the configuration file entries to describe the
message types look like this: MSGTYPE=type "pattern"
type - how the message should be shown;
show - show message normally;
hide - never show the message;
stop - wait for user with more-prompt;
- norep - show the message once, but not again if no other
+ norep - show the message once, but not again if no other mes-
+ sage is shown in between.
+
+ Here's an example of message types using NetHack's internal
+ pattern matching facility:
+ MSGTYPE=stop "You feel hungry."
+ MSGTYPE=hide "You displaced *."
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ specifies that whenever a message "You feel hungry" is shown,
+ the user is prompted with more-prompt, and a message matching
+ "You displaced <something>." is not shown at all.
+ The order of the defined MSGTYPE lines is important; the last
+ matching rule is used. Put the general case first, exceptions
+ below them.
+ 9.11. Configuring Menu Colors
+ Some platforms allow you to define colors used in menu lines
+ when the line matches a user-defined pattern. At this time the
+ tty, curses, win32tty and win32gui interfaces support this.
- NetHack Guidebook 84
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- message is shown in between.
- Here's an example of message types using NetHack's internal
- pattern matching facility:
- MSGTYPE=stop "You feel hungry."
- MSGTYPE=hide "You displaced *."
- specifies that whenever a message "You feel hungry" is shown,
- the user is prompted with more-prompt, and a message matching
- "You displaced <something>." is not shown at all.
- The order of the defined MSGTYPE lines is important; the last
- matching rule is used. Put the general case first, exceptions
- below them.
+ NetHack Guidebook 85
- 9.11. Configuring Menu Colors
- Some platforms allow you to define colors used in menu lines
- when the line matches a user-defined pattern. At this time the
- tty, curses, win32tty and win32gui interfaces support this.
- In general, the configuration file entries to describe the
+ In general, the configuration file entries to describe the
menu color mappings look like this:
MENUCOLOR="pattern"=color&attribute
pattern - the pattern to match;
- color - the color to use for lines matching the pat-
+ color - the color to use for lines matching the pat-
tern;
- attribute - the attribute to use for lines matching the
- pattern. The attribute is optional, and if
+ attribute - the attribute to use for lines matching the
+ pattern. The attribute is optional, and if
left out, you must also leave out the preced-
- ing ampersand. If no attribute is defined,
+ ing ampersand. If no attribute is defined,
no attribute is used.
The pattern should be a regular expression.
- Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
- cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-ma-
- genta, light-cyan, and white. And no-color, the default fore-
- ground color, which isn't necessarily the same as any of the
+ Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
+ cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-ma-
+ genta, light-cyan, and white. And no-color, the default fore-
+ ground color, which isn't necessarily the same as any of the
other colors.
- Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink, and
- inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none". Note that the
+ Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink, and
+ inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none". Note that the
platform used may interpret the attributes any way it wants.
- Here's an example of menu colors using NetHack's internal pat-
+ Here's an example of menu colors using NetHack's internal pat-
tern matching facility:
MENUCOLOR="* blessed *"=green
MENUCOLOR="* cursed *"=red
MENUCOLOR="* cursed *(being worn)"=red&underline
+ specifies that any menu line with " blessed " contained in it
+ will be shown in green color, lines with " cursed " will be
+ shown in red, and lines with " cursed " followed by "(being
+ worn)" on the same line will be shown in red color and under-
+ lined. You can have multiple MENUCOLOR entries in your config-
+ uration file, and the last MENUCOLOR line that matches a menu
+ line will be used for the line.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ Note that if you intend to have one or more color specifica-
+ tions match " uncursed ", you will probably want to turn the im-
+ plicit_uncursed option off so that all items known to be uncursed
+ are actually displayed with the "uncursed" description.
+ 9.12. Configuring User Sounds
+ Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played
+ when a message that matches a user-defined pattern is delivered
+ to the message window. At this time the Qt port and the win32tty
+ and win32gui ports support the use of user sounds.
- NetHack Guidebook 85
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- specifies that any menu line with " blessed " contained in
- it will be shown in green color, lines with " cursed "
- will be shown in red, and lines with " cursed " followed
- by "(being worn)" on the same line will be shown in red
- color and underlined. You can have multiple MENUCOLOR en-
- tries in your configuration file, and the last MENUCOLOR
- line that matches a menu line will be used for the line.
- Note that if you intend to have one or more color specifica-
- tions match " uncursed ", you will probably want to turn the im-
- plicit_uncursed option off so that all items known to be uncursed
- are actually displayed with the "uncursed" description.
- 9.12. Configuring User Sounds
- Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played
- when a message that matches a user-defined pattern is delivered
- to the message window. At this time the Qt port and the win32tty
- and win32gui ports support the use of user sounds.
+ NetHack Guidebook 86
+
- The following configuration file entries are relevant to
+
+ The following configuration file entries are relevant to
mapping user sounds to messages:
SOUNDDIR
The directory that houses the sound files to be played.
SOUND
- An entry that maps a sound file to a user-specified message
- pattern. Each SOUND entry is broken down into the following
+ An entry that maps a sound file to a user-specified message
+ pattern. Each SOUND entry is broken down into the following
parts:
MESG - message window mapping (the only one supported in
3.6);
pattern - the pattern to match;
sound file - the sound file to play;
- volume - the volume to be set while playing the sound
+ volume - the volume to be set while playing the sound
file;
- sound index - optional; the index corresponding to a sound
+ sound index - optional; the index corresponding to a sound
file.
The pattern should be a POSIX extended regular expression.
9.13. Configuring Status Hilites
Your copy of NetHack may have been compiled with support for
- "Status Hilites". If so, you can customize your game display by
+ "Status Hilites". If so, you can customize your game display by
setting thresholds to change the color or appearance of fields in
the status display.
OPTION=hilite_status:field-name/behavior/color&attributes
+ For example, the following line in your configuration file
+ will cause the hitpoints field to display in the color red if
+ your hitpoints drop to or below a threshold of 30%:
+ OPTION=hilite_status:hitpoints/<=30%/red/normal
+ (That example is actually specifying red&normal for <=30% and no-
+ color&normal for >30%.)
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
+ For another example, the following line in your configura-
+ tion file will cause wisdom to be displayed red if it drops and
+ green if it rises:
+ OPTION=hilite_status:wisdom/down/red/up/green
+ Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
+ cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-magen-
+ ta, light-cyan, and white. And "no-color", the default fore-
+ ground color on the display, which is not necessarily the same as
+ black or white or any of the other colors.
- NetHack Guidebook 86
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- For example, the following line in your configuration file
- will cause the hitpoints field to display in the color red if
- your hitpoints drop to or below a threshold of 30%:
- OPTION=hilite_status:hitpoints/<=30%/red/normal
- (That example is actually specifying red&normal for <=30% and no-
- color&normal for >30%.)
- For another example, the following line in your configura-
- tion file will cause wisdom to be displayed red if it drops and
- green if it rises:
+ NetHack Guidebook 87
- OPTION=hilite_status:wisdom/down/red/up/green
- Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
- cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-magen-
- ta, light-cyan, and white. And "no-color", the default fore-
- ground color on the display, which is not necessarily the same as
- black or white or any of the other colors.
- Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink,
- and inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none"; they should not
+ Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink,
+ and inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none"; they should not
be used in combination with any of the other attributes.
To specify both a color and an attribute, use `&' to combine
- them. To specify multiple attributes, use `+' to combine those.
+ them. To specify multiple attributes, use `+' to combine those.
For example: "magenta&inverse+dim".
- Note that the display may substitute or ignore particular
- attributes depending upon its capabilities, and in general may
- interpret the attributes any way it wants. For example, on some
+ Note that the display may substitute or ignore particular
+ attributes depending upon its capabilities, and in general may
+ interpret the attributes any way it wants. For example, on some
display systems a request for bold might yield blink or vice ver-
sa. On others, issuing an attribute request while another is al-
- ready set up will replace the earlier attribute rather than com-
- bine with it. Since NetHack issues attribute requests sequen-
+ ready set up will replace the earlier attribute rather than com-
+ bine with it. Since NetHack issues attribute requests sequen-
tially (at least with the tty interface) rather than all at once,
the only way a situation like that can be controlled is to speci-
fy just one attribute.
- You can adjust the appearance of the following status
+ You can adjust the appearance of the following status
fields:
title dungeon-level experience-level
strength gold experience
charisma armor-class condition
alignment score
- The pseudo-field "characteristics" can be used to set all six
- of Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha at once. "HD" is "hit
- dice", an approximation of experience level displayed when
+ The pseudo-field "characteristics" can be used to set all six
+ of Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha at once. "HD" is "hit
+ dice", an approximation of experience level displayed when
+ polymorphed. "experience", "time", and "score" are condition-
+ ally displayed depending upon your other option settings.
+ Instead of a behavior, "condition" takes the following condi-
+ tion flags: stone, slime, strngl, foodpois, termill, blind,
+ deaf, stun, conf, hallu, lev, fly, and ride. You can use "ma-
+ jor_troubles" as an alias for stone through termill, "mi-
+ nor_troubles" for blind through hallu, "movement" for lev, fly,
+ and ride, and "all" for every condition.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ Allowed behaviors are "always", "up", "down", "changed", a per-
+ centage or absolute number threshold, or text to match against.
+ * "always" will set the default attributes for that field.
+ * "up", "down" set the field attributes for when the field
+ value changes upwards or downwards. This attribute times
+ out after statushilites turns.
+ * "changed" sets the field attribute for when the field val-
+ ue changes. This attribute times out after statushilites
- NetHack Guidebook 87
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- polymorphed. "experience", "time", and "score" are condition-
- ally displayed depending upon your other option settings.
- Instead of a behavior, "condition" takes the following condi-
- tion flags: stone, slime, strngl, foodpois, termill, blind,
- deaf, stun, conf, hallu, lev, fly, and ride. You can use "ma-
- jor_troubles" as an alias for stone through termill, "mi-
- nor_troubles" for blind through hallu, "movement" for lev, fly,
- and ride, and "all" for every condition.
- Allowed behaviors are "always", "up", "down", "changed", a per-
- centage or absolute number threshold, or text to match against.
+ NetHack Guidebook 88
- * "always" will set the default attributes for that field.
- * "up", "down" set the field attributes for when the field
- value changes upwards or downwards. This attribute times
- out after statushilites turns.
- * "changed" sets the field attribute for when the field val-
- ue changes. This attribute times out after statushilites
- turns. (If a field has both a "changed" rule and an "up"
- or "down" rule which matches a change in the field's val-
+ turns. (If a field has both a "changed" rule and an "up"
+ or "down" rule which matches a change in the field's val-
ue, the "up" or "down" one takes precedence.)
- * percentage sets the field attribute when the field value
- matches the percentage. It is specified as a number be-
- tween 0 and 100, followed by `%' (percent sign). If the
- percentage is prefixed with `<=' or `>=', it also matches
- when value is below or above the percentage. Use prefix
- `<' or `>' to match when strictly below or above. (The
- numeric limit is relaxed slightly for those: >-1% and
- <101% are allowed.) Only four fields support percentage
- rules. Percentages for "hitpoints" and "power" are
- straightforward; they're based on the corresponding maxi-
- mum field. Percentage highlight rules are also allowed
+ * percentage sets the field attribute when the field value
+ matches the percentage. It is specified as a number be-
+ tween 0 and 100, followed by `%' (percent sign). If the
+ percentage is prefixed with `<=' or `>=', it also matches
+ when value is below or above the percentage. Use prefix
+ `<' or `>' to match when strictly below or above. (The
+ numeric limit is relaxed slightly for those: >-1% and
+ <101% are allowed.) Only four fields support percentage
+ rules. Percentages for "hitpoints" and "power" are
+ straightforward; they're based on the corresponding maxi-
+ mum field. Percentage highlight rules are also allowed
for "experience level" and "experience points" (valid when
the showexp option is enabled). For those, the percentage
is based on the progress from the start of the current ex-
perience level to the start of the next level. So if lev-
- el 2 starts at 20 points and level 3 starts at 40 points,
- having 30 points is 50% and 35 points is 75%. 100% is
- unattainable for experience because you'll gain a level
+ el 2 starts at 20 points and level 3 starts at 40 points,
+ having 30 points is 50% and 35 points is 75%. 100% is
+ unattainable for experience because you'll gain a level
and the calculations will be reset for that new level, but
- a rule for =100% is allowed and matches the special case
+ a rule for =100% is allowed and matches the special case
of being exactly 1 experience point short of the next lev-
el.
- * absolute value sets the attribute when the field value
- matches that number. The number must be 0 or higher, ex-
- cept for "armor-class' which allows negative values, and
- may optionally be preceded by `='. If the number is pre-
- ceded by `<=' or `>=' instead, it also matches when value
- is below or above. If the prefix is `<' or `>', only
+ * absolute value sets the attribute when the field value
+ matches that number. The number must be 0 or higher, ex-
+ cept for "armor-class' which allows negative values, and
+ may optionally be preceded by `='. If the number is pre-
+ ceded by `<=' or `>=' instead, it also matches when value
+ is below or above. If the prefix is `<' or `>', only
+ match when strictly above or below.
+ * text match sets the attribute when the field value matches
+ the text. Text matches can only be used for "alignment",
+ "carrying-capacity", "hunger", "dungeon-level", and "ti-
+ tle". For title, only the role's rank title is tested;
+ the character's name is ignored.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ The in-game options menu can help you determine the correct
+ syntax for a configuration file.
+ The whole feature can be disabled by setting option sta-
+ tushilites to 0.
+ Example hilites:
- NetHack Guidebook 88
- match when strictly above or below.
- * text match sets the attribute when the field value matches
- the text. Text matches can only be used for "alignment",
- "carrying-capacity", "hunger", "dungeon-level", and "ti-
- tle". For title, only the role's rank title is tested;
- the character's name is ignored.
- The in-game options menu can help you determine the correct
- syntax for a configuration file.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 89
- The whole feature can be disabled by setting option sta-
- tushilites to 0.
- Example hilites:
OPTION=hilite_status: gold/up/yellow/down/brown
OPTION=hilite_status: characteristics/up/green/down/red
NetHack can load entire symbol sets from the symbol file.
- The options that are used to select a particular symbol set
+ The options that are used to select a particular symbol set
from the symbol file are:
- symset
- Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load.
-
- roguesymset
- Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load for dis-
- play on the rogue level.
-
- You can also override one or more symbols using the SYMBOLS
- and ROGUESYMBOLS configuration file options. Symbols are speci-
- fied as name:value pairs. Note that NetHack escape-processes the
- value string in conventional C fashion. This means that \ is a
- prefix to take the following character literally. Thus \ needs
- to be represented as \\. The special prefix form \m switches on
- the meta bit in the symbol value, and the ^ prefix causes the
- following character to be treated as a control character.
-
- NetHack Symbols
- Symbol Name Description
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 89
+ symset
+ Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load.
+ roguesymset
+ Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load for dis-
+ play on the rogue level.
+ You can also override one or more symbols using the SYMBOLS
+ and ROGUESYMBOLS configuration file options. Symbols are speci-
+ fied as name:value pairs. Note that NetHack escape-processes the
+ value string in conventional C fashion. This means that \ is a
+ prefix to take the following character literally. Thus \ needs
+ to be represented as \\. The special prefix form \m switches on
+ the meta bit in the symbol value, and the ^ prefix causes the
+ following character to be treated as a control character.
+ NetHack Symbols
+ Symbol Name Description
+ -----------------------------------------------------------------
S_air (air)
_ S_altar (altar)
" S_amulet (amulet)
- S_blcorn (bottom left corner)
b S_blob (blob)
+ S_book (spellbook)
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 90
+
+
+
) S_boomleft (boomerang open left)
( S_boomright (boomerang open right)
` S_boulder (boulder)
! S_flashbeam (flash beam)
% S_food (piece of food)
{ S_fountain (fountain)
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 90
-
-
-
F S_fungus (fungus or mold)
* S_gem (gem or rock)
S_ghost (ghost)
^ S_hole (hole)
@ S_human (human or elf)
h S_humanoid (humanoid)
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 91
+
+
+
- S_hwall (horizontal wall)
. S_ice (ice)
i S_imp (imp or minor demon)
q S_quadruped (quadruped)
Q S_quantmech (quantum mechanic)
= S_ring (ring)
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 91
-
-
-
` S_rock (boulder or statue)
r S_rodent (rodent)
^ S_rolling_boulder_trap (rolling boulder trap)
^ S_squeaky_board (squeaky board)
0 S_ss1 (magic shield 1 of 4)
# S_ss2 (magic shield 2 of 4)
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 92
+
+
+
@ S_ss3 (magic shield 3 of 4)
* S_ss4 (magic shield 4 of 4)
^ S_statue_trap (statue trap)
+ S_vcdoor (closed door in vertical wall)
. S_venom (splash of venom)
^ S_vibrating_square (vibrating square)
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 92
-
-
-
. S_vodbridge (vertical lowered drawbridge)
- S_vodoor (open door in vertical wall)
v S_vortex (vortex)
Y S_yeti (apelike creature)
Z S_zombie (zombie)
z S_zruty (zruty)
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 93
+
+
+
S_pet_override (any pet if ACCESSIBILITY=1 is set)
S_hero_override (hero if ACCESSIBILITY=1 is set)
Notes:
* Several symbols in this table appear to be blank. They are the
- space character, except for S_pet_override and S_hero_override
- which don't have any default value and can only be used if en-
+ space character, except for S_pet_override and S_hero_override
+ which don't have any default value and can only be used if en-
abled in the "sysconf" file.
- * S_rock is misleadingly named; rocks and stones use S_gem.
- Statues and boulders are the rock being referred to, but since
- version 3.6.0, statues are displayed as the monster they de-
- pict. So S_rock is only used for boulders and not used at all
+ * S_rock is misleadingly named; rocks and stones use S_gem.
+ Statues and boulders are the rock being referred to, but since
+ version 3.6.0, statues are displayed as the monster they de-
+ pict. So S_rock is only used for boulders and not used at all
if overridden by the more specific S_boulder.
9.15. Configuring NetHack for Play by the Blind
- NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters
- for making maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
- of NetHack completely accessible to the blind who use speech
- and/or Braille access technologies. Players will require a good
- working knowledge of their screen-reader's review features, and
- will have to know how to navigate horizontally and vertically
- character by character. They will also find the search capabili-
- ties of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
- examine this Guidebook before playing so you have an idea what
- the screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
- the PC cursor. It is always where your character is located.
- Merely searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
+ NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters
+ for making maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
+ of NetHack completely accessible to the blind who use speech
+ and/or Braille access technologies. Players will require a good
+ working knowledge of their screen-reader's review features, and
+ will have to know how to navigate horizontally and vertically
+ character by character. They will also find the search capabili-
+ ties of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
+ examine this Guidebook before playing so you have an idea what
+ the screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
+ the PC cursor. It is always where your character is located.
+ Merely searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
ter since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign.
- Your screen-reader should also have a function which gives you
- the row and column of your review cursor and the PC cursor.
- These co-ordinates are often useful in giving players a better
+ Your screen-reader should also have a function which gives you
+ the row and column of your review cursor and the PC cursor.
+ These co-ordinates are often useful in giving players a better
sense of the overall location of items on the screen.
- NetHack can also be compiled with support for sending the
- game messages to an external program, such as a text-to-speech
+ NetHack can also be compiled with support for sending the
+ game messages to an external program, such as a text-to-speech
+ synthesizer. If the "#version" extended command shows "external
+ program as a message handler", your NetHack has been compiled
+ with the capability. When compiling NetHack from source on Linux
+ and other POSIX systems, define MSGHANDLER to enable it. To use
+ the capability, set the environment variable NETHACK_MSGHANDLER
+ to an executable, which will be executed with the game message as
+ the program's only parameter.
+ While it is not difficult for experienced users to edit the
+ defaults.nh file to accomplish this, novices may find this task
+ somewhat daunting. Included within the "symbols" file of all of-
+ ficial distributions of NetHack is a symset called NHAccess. Se-
+ lecting that symset in your configuration file will cause the
+ game to run in a manner accessible to the blind. After you have
+ gained some experience with the game and with editing files, you
+ may want to alter settings via SYMBOLS= and ROGUESYMBOLS= in your
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 93
+ NetHack Guidebook 94
- synthesizer. If the "#version" extended command shows "external
- program as a message handler", your NetHack has been compiled
- with the capability. When compiling NetHack from source on Linux
- and other POSIX systems, define MSGHANDLER to enable it. To use
- the capability, set the environment variable NETHACK_MSGHANDLER
- to an executable, which will be executed with the game message as
- the program's only parameter.
- While it is not difficult for experienced users to edit the
- defaults.nh file to accomplish this, novices may find this task
- somewhat daunting. Included within the "symbols" file of all of-
- ficial distributions of NetHack is a symset called NHAccess. Se-
- lecting that symset in your configuration file will cause the
- game to run in a manner accessible to the blind. After you have
- gained some experience with the game and with editing files, you
- may want to alter settings via SYMBOLS= and ROGUESYMBOLS= in your
configuration file to better suit your preferences. See the pre-
- vious section for the special symbols S_pet_override to force a
- consistent symbol for all pets and S_hero_override to force a
- unique symbol for the player character if accessibility is en-
+ vious section for the special symbols S_pet_override to force a
+ consistent symbol for all pets and S_hero_override to force a
+ unique symbol for the player character if accessibility is en-
abled in the sysconf file.
- The most crucial settings to make the game more accessible
+ The most crucial settings to make the game more accessible
are:
symset:NHAccess
Load a symbol set appropriate for use by blind players.
roguesymset:NHAccess
- Load a symbol set for the rogue level that is appropriate for
+ Load a symbol set for the rogue level that is appropriate for
use by blind players.
menustyle:traditional
Show menus on a cleared screen and aligned to the left edge.
number_pad
- A lot of speech access programs use the number-pad to review
+ A lot of speech access programs use the number-pad to review
the screen. If this is the case, disable the number_pad option
and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.
autodescribe
- Automatically describe the terrain under the cursor when tar-
+ Automatically describe the terrain under the cursor when tar-
geting.
mention_walls
- Give feedback messages when walking towards a wall or when
+ Give feedback messages when walking towards a wall or when
travel command was interrupted.
whatis_coord:compass
- When targeting with cursor, describe the cursor position with
+ When targeting with cursor, describe the cursor position with
coordinates relative to your character.
+ whatis_filter:area
+ When targeting with cursor, filter possible locations so only
+ those in the same area (eg. same room, or same corridor) are
+ considered.
+
+ whatis_moveskip
+ When targeting with cursor and using fast-move, skip the same
+ glyphs instead of moving 8 units at a time.
+
+ nostatus_updates
+ Prevent updates to the status lines at the bottom of the
+ screen, if your screen-reader reads those lines. The same in-
+ formation can be seen via the "#attributes" command.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 94
- whatis_filter:area
- When targeting with cursor, filter possible locations so only
- those in the same area (eg. same room, or same corridor) are
- considered.
+ NetHack Guidebook 95
- whatis_moveskip
- When targeting with cursor and using fast-move, skip the same
- glyphs instead of moving 8 units at a time.
- nostatus_updates
- Prevent updates to the status lines at the bottom of the
- screen, if your screen-reader reads those lines. The same in-
- formation can be seen via the "#attributes" command.
9.16. Global Configuration for System Administrators
- If NetHack is compiled with the SYSCF option, a system ad-
- ministrator should set up a global configuration; this is a file
+ If NetHack is compiled with the SYSCF option, a system ad-
+ ministrator should set up a global configuration; this is a file
in the same format as the traditional per-user configuration file
(see above). This file should be named sysconf and placed in the
- same directory as the other NetHack support files. The options
+ same directory as the other NetHack support files. The options
recognized in this file are listed below. Any option not set us-
- es a compiled-in default (which may not be appropriate for your
+ es a compiled-in default (which may not be appropriate for your
system).
- WIZARDS = A space-separated list of user names who are allowed
+ WIZARDS = A space-separated list of user names who are allowed
to play in debug mode (commonly referred to as wizard mode). A
value of a single asterisk (*) allows anyone to start a game in
debug mode.
SHELLERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the shell es-
cape command (!). The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.
- EXPLORERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the explore
+ EXPLORERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the explore
mode. The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.
MAXPLAYERS = Limit the maximum number of games that can be run-
ning at the same time.
SAVEFORMAT = A list of up to two save file formats separated by
- space. The first format in the list will written as well as
- read. The second format will be read only if no save file in
- the first format exists. Valid choices are "historical" for
- binary writing of entire structs, "lendian" for binary writing
- of each field in little-endian order, "ascii" for writing the
+ space. The first format in the list will written as well as
+ read. The second format will be read only if no save file in
+ the first format exists. Valid choices are "historical" for
+ binary writing of entire structs, "lendian" for binary writing
+ of each field in little-endian order, "ascii" for writing the
save file content in ascii text.
- BONESFORMAT = A list of up to two bones file formats separated
+ BONESFORMAT = A list of up to two bones file formats separated
by space. The first format in the list will written as well as
- read. The second format will be read only if no bones files in
+ read. The second format will be read only if no bones files in
the first format exist. Valid choices are "historical" for bi-
nary writing of entire structs, "lendian" for binary writing of
- each field in little-endian order, "ascii" for writing the
+ each field in little-endian order, "ascii" for writing the
bones file content in ascii text.
+ SUPPORT = A string explaining how to get local support (no de-
+ fault value).
+
+ RECOVER = A string explaining how to recover a game on this
+ system (no default value).
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ SEDUCE = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the SEDUCE
+ option. When disabled, incubi and succubi behave like nymphs.
+ CHECK_PLNAME = Setting this to 1 will make the EXPLORERS, WIZ-
+ ARDS, and SHELLERS check for the player name instead of the us-
+ er's login name.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 95
- SUPPORT = A string explaining how to get local support (no de-
- fault value).
- RECOVER = A string explaining how to recover a game on this
- system (no default value).
+ NetHack Guidebook 96
- SEDUCE = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the SEDUCE
- option. When disabled, incubi and succubi behave like nymphs.
- CHECK_PLNAME = Setting this to 1 will make the EXPLORERS, WIZ-
- ARDS, and SHELLERS check for the player name instead of the us-
- er's login name.
CHECK_SAVE_UID = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
- UID (used identification number) checking for save files (to
- verify that the user who is restoring is the same one who
+ UID (used identification number) checking for save files (to
+ verify that the user who is restoring is the same one who
saved).
The following options affect the score file:
ENTRYMAX = Maximum number of entries in the score file.
- POINTSMIN = Minimum number of points to get an entry in the
+ POINTSMIN = Minimum number of points to get an entry in the
score file.
- PERS_IS_UID = 0 or 1 to use user names or numeric userids, re-
+ PERS_IS_UID = 0 or 1 to use user names or numeric userids, re-
spectively, to identify unique people for the score file.
- MAX_STATUENAME_RANK = Maximum number of score file entries to
+ MAX_STATUENAME_RANK = Maximum number of score file entries to
use for random statue names (default is 10).
- ACCESSIBILITY = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
- ability for players to set S_pet_override and S_hero_override
+ ACCESSIBILITY = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
+ ability for players to set S_pet_override and S_hero_override
symbols in their configuration file.
- PORTABLE_DEVICE_PATHS = 0 or 1 Windows OS only, the game will
- look for all of its external files, and write to all of its
- output files in one place rather than at the standard loca-
+ PORTABLE_DEVICE_PATHS = 0 or 1 Windows OS only, the game will
+ look for all of its external files, and write to all of its
+ output files in one place rather than at the standard loca-
tions.
DUMPLOGFILE = A filename where the end-of-game dumplog is
- saved. Not defining this will prevent dumplog from being cre-
+ saved. Not defining this will prevent dumplog from being cre-
ated. Only available if your game is compiled with DUMPLOG. Al-
lows the following placeholders:
%T - current time, UNIX timestamp format
%d - game start time, YYYYMMDDhhmmss format
%D - current time, YYYYMMDDhhmmss format
+ %n - player name
+ %N - first character of player name
+ 10. Scoring
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack maintains a list of the top scores or scorers on
+ your machine, depending on how it is set up. In the latter case,
+ each account on the machine can post only one non-winning score
+ on this list. If you score higher than someone else on this
+ list, or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
+ proper place under your current name. How many scores are kept
+ can also be set up when NetHack is compiled.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 96
- %n - player name
- %N - first character of player name
+ NetHack Guidebook 97
- 10. Scoring
- NetHack maintains a list of the top scores or scorers on
- your machine, depending on how it is set up. In the latter case,
- each account on the machine can post only one non-winning score
- on this list. If you score higher than someone else on this
- list, or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
- proper place under your current name. How many scores are kept
- can also be set up when NetHack is compiled.
- Your score is chiefly based upon how much experience you
+ Your score is chiefly based upon how much experience you
gained, how much loot you accumulated, how deep you explored, and
how the game ended. If you quit the game, you escape with all of
- your gold intact. If, however, you get killed in the Mazes of
+ your gold intact. If, however, you get killed in the Mazes of
Menace, the guild will only hear about 90% of your gold when your
- corpse is discovered (adventurers have been known to collect
- finder's fees). So, consider whether you want to take one last
- hit at that monster and possibly live, or quit and stop with
- whatever you have. If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
+ corpse is discovered (adventurers have been known to collect
+ finder's fees). So, consider whether you want to take one last
+ hit at that monster and possibly live, or quit and stop with
+ whatever you have. If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
you swing and live, you might find more.
- If you just want to see what the current top players/games
+ If you just want to see what the current top players/games
list is, you can type nethack -s all on most versions.
11. Explore mode
- NetHack is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might
+ NetHack is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might
falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
Well, fear not. Your dungeon comes equipped with an "explore" or
- "discovery" mode that enables you to keep old save files and
- cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the high score
+ "discovery" mode that enables you to keep old save files and
+ cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the high score
list.
- There are two ways of enabling explore mode. One is to
- start the game with the -X command-line switch or with the play-
- mode:explore option. The other is to issue the "#exploremode"
- extended command while already playing the game. Starting a new
+ There are two ways of enabling explore mode. One is to
+ start the game with the -X command-line switch or with the play-
+ mode:explore option. The other is to issue the "#exploremode"
+ extended command while already playing the game. Starting a new
game in explore mode provides your character with a wand of wish-
- ing in initial inventory; switching during play does not. The
- other benefits of explore mode are left for the trepid reader to
+ ing in initial inventory; switching during play does not. The
+ other benefits of explore mode are left for the trepid reader to
discover.
11.1. Debug mode
Debug mode, also known as wizard mode, is undocumented aside
- from this brief description and the various "debug mode only"
- commands listed among the command descriptions. It is intended
+ from this brief description and the various "debug mode only"
+ commands listed among the command descriptions. It is intended
for tracking down problems within the program rather than to pro-
- vide god-like powers to your character, and players who attempt
- debugging are expected to figure out how to use it themselves.
- It is initiated by starting the game with the -D command-line
+ vide god-like powers to your character, and players who attempt
+ debugging are expected to figure out how to use it themselves.
+ It is initiated by starting the game with the -D command-line
+ switch or with the playmode:debug option.
+ For some systems, the player must be logged in under a par-
+ ticular user name to be allowed to use debug mode; for others,
+ the hero must be given a particular character name (but may be
+ any role; there's no connection between "wizard mode" and the
+ Wizard role). Attempting to start a game in debug mode when not
+ allowed or not available will result in falling back to explore
+ mode instead.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 97
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- switch or with the playmode:debug option.
- For some systems, the player must be logged in under a par-
- ticular user name to be allowed to use debug mode; for others,
- the hero must be given a particular character name (but may be
- any role; there's no connection between "wizard mode" and the
- Wizard role). Attempting to start a game in debug mode when not
- allowed or not available will result in falling back to explore
- mode instead.
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 98
+
+
12. Credits
- The original hack game was modeled on the Berkeley UNIX
- rogue game. Large portions of this document were shamelessly
- cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy
- and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold. Small portions were adapted from
+ The original hack game was modeled on the Berkeley UNIX
+ rogue game. Large portions of this document were shamelessly
+ cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy
+ and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold. Small portions were adapted from
Further Exploration of the Dungeons of Doom, by Ken Arromdee.
NetHack is the product of literally scores of people's work.
- Main events in the course of the game development are described
+ Main events in the course of the game development are described
below:
- Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny
+ Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny
Woodland, Mike Thome, and Jon Payne.
- Andries Brouwer did a major re-write while at Stichting
+ Andries Brouwer did a major re-write while at Stichting
Mathematisch Centrum (now Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica), trans-
- forming Hack into a very different game. He published the Hack
- source code for use on UNIX systems by posting that to Usenet
+ forming Hack into a very different game. He published the Hack
+ source code for use on UNIX systems by posting that to Usenet
newsgroup net.sources (later renamed comp.sources) releasing ver-
sion 1.0 in December of 1984, then versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, and fi-
- nally 1.0.3 in July of 1985. Usenet newsgroup net.games.hack
- (later renamed rec.games.hack, eventually replaced by
+ nally 1.0.3 in July of 1985. Usenet newsgroup net.games.hack
+ (later renamed rec.games.hack, eventually replaced by
rec.games.roguelike.nethack) was created for discussing it.
- Don G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and MS-DOS,
- producing PC HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC Rainbow graphics
- in version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more ver-
+ Don G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and MS-DOS,
+ producing PC HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC Rainbow graphics
+ in version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more ver-
sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6; note that these are old Hack ver-
sion numbers, not contemporary NetHack ones).
- R. Black ported PC HACK 3.51 to Lattice C and the Atari
+ R. Black ported PC HACK 3.51 to Lattice C and the Atari
520/1040ST, producing ST Hack 1.03.
Mike Stephenson merged these various versions back together,
- incorporating many of the added features, and produced NetHack
- version 1.4 in 1987. He then coordinated a cast of thousands in
+ incorporating many of the added features, and produced NetHack
+ version 1.4 in 1987. He then coordinated a cast of thousands in
enhancing and debugging NetHack 1.4 and released NetHack versions
- 2.2 and 2.3. Like Hack, they were released by posting their
- source code to Usenet where they remained available in various
- archives accessible via ftp and uucp after expiring from the
+ 2.2 and 2.3. Like Hack, they were released by posting their
+ source code to Usenet where they remained available in various
+ archives accessible via ftp and uucp after expiring from the
newsgroup.
+ Later, Mike coordinated a major re-write of the game, head-
+ ing a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet,
+ Steve Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, Eric S. Raymond,
+ John Rupley, Mike Threepoint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack
+ 3.0c.
+ NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by Eric R. Smith, to
+ OS/2 by Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel. The three
+ of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main NetHack Development
+ Team to produce subsequent revisions of 3.0.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 98
+ NetHack Guidebook 99
- Later, Mike coordinated a major re-write of the game, head-
- ing a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet,
- Steve Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, Eric S. Raymond,
- John Rupley, Mike Threepoint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack
- 3.0c.
- NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by Eric R. Smith, to
- OS/2 by Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel. The three
- of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main NetHack Development
- Team to produce subsequent revisions of 3.0.
- Olaf Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga. Norm
- Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre Martineau designed overlay
- code for PC NetHack 3.0. Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
- Macintosh. Along with various other Dungeoneers, they continued
- to enhance the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
+ Olaf Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga. Norm
+ Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre Martineau designed overlay
+ code for PC NetHack 3.0. Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
+ Macintosh. Along with various other Dungeoneers, they continued
+ to enhance the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
revisions of 3.0.
- Version 3.0 went through ten relatively rapidly released
- "patch-level" revisions. Versions at the time were known as 3.0
- for the base release and variously as "3.0a" through "3.0j",
- "3.0 patchlevel 1" through "3.0 patchlevel 10", or "3.0pl1"
+ Version 3.0 went through ten relatively rapidly released
+ "patch-level" revisions. Versions at the time were known as 3.0
+ for the base release and variously as "3.0a" through "3.0j",
+ "3.0 patchlevel 1" through "3.0 patchlevel 10", or "3.0pl1"
through "3.0pl10" rather than 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 through 3.0.10; the
three component numbering scheme began to be used with 3.1.0.
- Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by Izchak Miller
- and Janet Walz, the NetHack Development Team which now included
- Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet, Kevin Darcy,
- Matt Day, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin,
+ Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by Izchak Miller
+ and Janet Walz, the NetHack Development Team which now included
+ Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet, Kevin Darcy,
+ Matt Day, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin,
Eric Raymond, and Eric Smith undertook a radical revision of 3.0.
They re-structured the game's design, and re-wrote major parts of
- the code. They added multiple dungeons, a new display, special
- individual character quests, a new endgame and many other new
- features, and produced NetHack 3.1. Version 3.1.0 was released
+ the code. They added multiple dungeons, a new display, special
+ individual character quests, a new endgame and many other new
+ features, and produced NetHack 3.1. Version 3.1.0 was released
in January of 1993.
- Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson, with help from
- Richard Addison, Mike Passaretti, and Olaf Seibert, developed
+ Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson, with help from
+ Richard Addison, Mike Passaretti, and Olaf Seibert, developed
NetHack 3.1 for the Amiga.
- Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl Sche-
+ Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl Sche-
lin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported
NetHack 3.1 to the PC.
Jon W{tte and Hao-yang Wang, with help from Ross Brown, Mike
- Engber, David Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
- Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson, developed NetHack
+ Engber, David Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
+ Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson, developed NetHack
3.1 for the Macintosh, porting it for MPW. Building on their de-
velopment, Bart House added a Think C port.
Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2. Eric Smith port-
- ed NetHack 3.1 to the Atari. Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
- Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version of NetHack 3.1.
+ ed NetHack 3.1 to the Atari. Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
+ Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version of NetHack 3.1.
Michael Allison ported NetHack 3.1 to Windows NT.
+ Dean Luick, with help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack
+ 3.1 for X11. It drew the map as text rather than graphically but
+ included nh10.bdf, an optionally used custom X11 font which has
+ tiny images in place of letters and punctuation, a precursor of
+ tiles. Those images don't extend to individual monster and ob-
+ ject types, just replacements for monster and object classes (so
+ one custom image for all "a" insects and another for all "[" ar-
+ mor and so forth, not separate images for beetles and ants or for
+ cloaks and boots).
+
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 99
+ NetHack Guidebook 100
- Dean Luick, with help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack
- 3.1 for X11. It drew the map as text rather than graphically but
- included nh10.bdf, an optionally used custom X11 font which has
- tiny images in place of letters and punctuation, a precursor of
- tiles. Those images don't extend to individual monster and ob-
- ject types, just replacements for monster and object classes (so
- one custom image for all "a" insects and another for all "[" ar-
- mor and so forth, not separate images for beetles and ants or for
- cloaks and boots).
- Warwick Allison wrote a graphically displayed version of
- NetHack for the Atari where the tiny pictures were described as
- "icons" and were distinct for specific types of monsters and ob-
+ Warwick Allison wrote a graphically displayed version of
+ NetHack for the Atari where the tiny pictures were described as
+ "icons" and were distinct for specific types of monsters and ob-
jects rather than just their classes. He contributed them to the
- NetHack Development Team which rechristened them "tiles", origi-
- nal usage which has subsequently been picked up by various other
- games. NetHack's tiles support was then implemented on other
- platforms (initially MS-DOS but eventually Windows, Qt, and X11
+ NetHack Development Team which rechristened them "tiles", origi-
+ nal usage which has subsequently been picked up by various other
+ games. NetHack's tiles support was then implemented on other
+ platforms (initially MS-DOS but eventually Windows, Qt, and X11
too).
The 3.2 NetHack Development Team, comprised of Michael Alli-
son, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin
Darcy, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Er-
- ic Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released
+ ic Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released
version 3.2.0 in April of 1996.
Version 3.2 marked the tenth anniversary of the formation of
- the development team. In a testament to their dedication to the
- game, all thirteen members of the original NetHack Development
- Team remained on the team at the start of work on that release.
- During the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2.0, one
- of the founding members of the NetHack Development Team, Dr.
- Izchak Miller, was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. That
- release of the game was dedicated to him by the development and
+ the development team. In a testament to their dedication to the
+ game, all thirteen members of the original NetHack Development
+ Team remained on the team at the start of work on that release.
+ During the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2.0, one
+ of the founding members of the NetHack Development Team, Dr.
+ Izchak Miller, was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. That
+ release of the game was dedicated to him by the development and
porting teams.
Version 3.2 proved to be more stable than previous versions.
- Many bugs were fixed, abuses eliminated, and game features tuned
+ Many bugs were fixed, abuses eliminated, and game features tuned
for better game play.
During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusi-
- asts of the game added their own modifications to the game and
+ asts of the game added their own modifications to the game and
made these "variants" publicly available:
- Tom Proudfoot and Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was
- quickly renamed NetHack-- when some people incorrectly assumed
- that it was a conversion of the C source code to C++. Working
- independently, Stephen White wrote NetHack Plus. Tom Proudfoot
+ Tom Proudfoot and Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was
+ quickly renamed NetHack-- when some people incorrectly assumed
+ that it was a conversion of the C source code to C++. Working
+ independently, Stephen White wrote NetHack Plus. Tom Proudfoot
later merged NetHack Plus and his own NetHack-- to produce SLASH.
- Larry Stewart-Zerba and Warwick Allison improved the spell cast-
- ing system with the Wizard Patch. Warwick Allison also ported
+ Larry Stewart-Zerba and Warwick Allison improved the spell cast-
+ ing system with the Wizard Patch. Warwick Allison also ported
NetHack to use the Qt interface.
+ Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-
+ duce Slash'EM, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added more fea-
+ tures. Kevin later joined the NetHack Development Team and in-
+ corporated the best of these ideas into NetHack 3.3.
+ The final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
+ was released simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
+ time for the Year 2000. Because of the newer version, 3.2.3 was
+ released as a source code patch only, without any ready-to-play
+ distribution for systems that usually had such.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 100
+ NetHack Guidebook 101
- Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-
- duce Slash'EM, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added more fea-
- tures. Kevin later joined the NetHack Development Team and in-
- corporated the best of these ideas into NetHack 3.3.
- The final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
- was released simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
- time for the Year 2000. Because of the newer version, 3.2.3 was
- released as a source code patch only, without any ready-to-play
- distribution for systems that usually had such.
- (To anyone considering resurrecting an old version: all
- versions before 3.2.3 had a Y2K bug. The high scores file and
- the log file contained dates which were formatted using a two-
- digit year, and 1999's year 99 was followed by 2000's year 100.
- That got written out successfully but it unintentionally intro-
- duced an extra column in the file layout which prevented score
- entries from being read back in correctly, interfering with in-
- sertion of new high scores and with retrieval of old character
- names to use for random ghost and statue names in the current
+ (To anyone considering resurrecting an old version: all
+ versions before 3.2.3 had a Y2K bug. The high scores file and
+ the log file contained dates which were formatted using a two-
+ digit year, and 1999's year 99 was followed by 2000's year 100.
+ That got written out successfully but it unintentionally intro-
+ duced an extra column in the file layout which prevented score
+ entries from being read back in correctly, interfering with in-
+ sertion of new high scores and with retrieval of old character
+ names to use for random ghost and statue names in the current
game.)
- The 3.3 NetHack Development Team, consisting of Michael Al-
- lison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps,
- Kevin Darcy, Timo Hakulinen, Kevin Hugo, Steve Linhart, Ken Lor-
- ber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet
- Walz, and Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1
+ The 3.3 NetHack Development Team, consisting of Michael Al-
+ lison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps,
+ Kevin Darcy, Timo Hakulinen, Kevin Hugo, Steve Linhart, Ken Lor-
+ ber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet
+ Walz, and Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1
in August of 2000.
Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
- separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
+ separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
- made their first appearance in the game alongside the familiar
- human race. Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
- ians, Cavemen, Healers, Knights, Priests, Rogues, Samurai,
- Tourists, Valkyries and of course, Wizards. It was also the
- first version to allow you to ride a steed, and was the first
- version to have a publicly available web-site listing all the
- bugs that had been discovered. Despite that constantly growing
- bug list, 3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
+ made their first appearance in the game alongside the familiar
+ human race. Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
+ ians, Cavemen, Healers, Knights, Priests, Rogues, Samurai,
+ Tourists, Valkyries and of course, Wizards. It was also the
+ first version to allow you to ride a steed, and was the first
+ version to have a publicly available web-site listing all the
+ bugs that had been discovered. Despite that constantly growing
+ bug list, 3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
and a half.
- The 3.4 NetHack Development Team initially consisted of
- Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin
- Hugo, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet
- Walz, and Paul Winner, with Warwick Allison joining just before
+ The 3.4 NetHack Development Team initially consisted of
+ Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin
+ Hugo, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet
+ Walz, and Paul Winner, with Warwick Allison joining just before
the release of NetHack 3.4.0 in March 2002.
- As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the game
+ As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the game
as a whole as well as supporting ports on the different platforms
that NetHack runs on:
Pat Rankin maintained 3.4 for VMS.
+ Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS plat-
+ form. Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.
+ Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
+ hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
+ Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas,
+ and Yitzhak Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
+ Windows platform. Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
+ face for the Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a Win-
+ dows CE port for 3.4.1.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 101
- Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS plat-
- form. Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.
+ NetHack Guidebook 102
- Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
- hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.
- Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas,
- and Yitzhak Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
- Windows platform. Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
- face for the Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a Win-
- dows CE port for 3.4.1.
Ron Van Iwaarden was the sole maintainer of NetHack for OS/2
- the past several releases. Unfortunately Ron's last OS/2 machine
- stopped working in early 2006. A great many thanks to Ron for
+ the past several releases. Unfortunately Ron's last OS/2 machine
+ stopped working in early 2006. A great many thanks to Ron for
keeping NetHack alive on OS/2 all these years.
- Janne Salmijarvi and Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced
- the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected it for
+ Janne Salmijarvi and Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced
+ the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected it for
3.3.1.
Christian "Marvin" Bressler maintained 3.4 for the Atari af-
The release of NetHack 3.4.3 in December 2003 marked the be-
ginning of a long release hiatus. 3.4.3 proved to be a remarkably
stable version that provided continued enjoyment by the community
- for more than a decade. The NetHack Development Team slowly and
- quietly continued to work on the game behind the scenes during
- the tenure of 3.4.3. It was during that same period that several
+ for more than a decade. The NetHack Development Team slowly and
+ quietly continued to work on the game behind the scenes during
+ the tenure of 3.4.3. It was during that same period that several
new variants emerged within the NetHack community. Notably
sporkhack by Derek S. Ray, unnethack by Patric Mueller, nitrohack
- and its successors originally by Daniel Thaler and then by Alex
- Smith, and Dynahack by Tung Nguyen. Some of those variants con-
- tinue to be developed, maintained, and enjoyed by the community
+ and its successors originally by Daniel Thaler and then by Alex
+ Smith, and Dynahack by Tung Nguyen. Some of those variants con-
+ tinue to be developed, maintained, and enjoyed by the community
to this day.
In September 2014, an interim snapshot of the code under de-
- velopment was released publicly by other parties. Since that
- code was a work-in-progress and had not gone through the process
- of debugging it as a suitable release, it was decided that the
- version numbers present on that code snapshot would be retired
- and never used in an official NetHack release. An announcement
+ velopment was released publicly by other parties. Since that
+ code was a work-in-progress and had not gone through the process
+ of debugging it as a suitable release, it was decided that the
+ version numbers present on that code snapshot would be retired
+ and never used in an official NetHack release. An announcement
was posted on the NetHack Development Team's official nethack.org
- website to that effect, stating that there would never be a
+ website to that effect, stating that there would never be a
3.4.4, 3.5, or 3.5.0 official release version.
- In January 2015, preparation began for the release of
+ In January 2015, preparation began for the release of
NetHack 3.6.
- At the beginning of development for what would eventually
- get released as 3.6.0, the NetHack Development Team consisted of
- Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs,
- Jessie Collet, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike
+ At the beginning of development for what would eventually
+ get released as 3.6.0, the NetHack Development Team consisted of
+ Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs,
+ Jessie Collet, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephen-
+ son, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner. In early 2015, ahead of the
+ release of 3.6.0, new members Sean Hunt, Pasi Kallinen, and Derek
+ S. Ray joined the NetHack Development Team.
+ Near the end of the development of 3.6.0, one of the signif-
+ icant inspirations for many of the humorous and fun features
+ found in the game, author Terry Pratchett, passed away. NetHack
+ 3.6.0 introduced a tribute to him.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ 3.6.0 was released in December 2015, and merged work done by
+ the development team since the release of 3.4.3 with some of the
+ beloved community patches. Many bugs were fixed and some code was
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 102
+ NetHack Guidebook 103
- Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner. In early 2015, ahead of
- the release of 3.6.0, new members Sean Hunt, Pasi Kallinen, and
- Derek S. Ray joined the NetHack Development Team.
- Near the end of the development of 3.6.0, one of the signif-
- icant inspirations for many of the humorous and fun features
- found in the game, author Terry Pratchett, passed away. NetHack
- 3.6.0 introduced a tribute to him.
- 3.6.0 was released in December 2015, and merged work done by
- the development team since the release of 3.4.3 with some of the
- beloved community patches. Many bugs were fixed and some code was
restructured.
- The NetHack Development Team, as well as Steve VanDevender
+ The NetHack Development Team, as well as Steve VanDevender
and Kevin Smolkowski, ensured that NetHack 3.6 continued to oper-
ate on various UNIX flavors and maintained the X11 interface.
- Ken Lorber, Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean Luick main-
+ Ken Lorber, Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean Luick main-
tained the port of NetHack 3.6 for Mac OSX.
- Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Bart House, Pasi Kallinen,
- Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas, Derek S. Ray and Yitzhak Sapir main-
+ Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Bart House, Pasi Kallinen,
+ Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas, Derek S. Ray and Yitzhak Sapir main-
tained the port of NetHack 3.6 for Microsoft Windows.
- Pat Rankin attempted to keep the VMS port running for
+ Pat Rankin attempted to keep the VMS port running for
NetHack 3.6, hindered by limited access. Kevin Smolkowski has up-
- dated and tested it for the most recent version of OpenVMS (V8.4
+ dated and tested it for the most recent version of OpenVMS (V8.4
as of this writing) on Alpha and Integrity (aka Itanium aka IA64)
but not VAX.
- Ray Chason resurrected the MS-DOS port for 3.6 and contrib-
+ Ray Chason resurrected the MS-DOS port for 3.6 and contrib-
uted the necessary updates to the community at large.
- In late April 2018, several hundred bug fixes for 3.6.0 and
- some new features were assembled and released as NetHack 3.6.1.
+ In late April 2018, several hundred bug fixes for 3.6.0 and
+ some new features were assembled and released as NetHack 3.6.1.
The NetHack Development Team at the time of release of 3.6.1 con-
- sisted of Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David
- Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Pasi Kallinen, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick,
- Patric Mueller, Pat Rankin, Derek S. Ray, Alex Smith, Mike
+ sisted of Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David
+ Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Pasi Kallinen, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick,
+ Patric Mueller, Pat Rankin, Derek S. Ray, Alex Smith, Mike
Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner.
In early May 2019, another 320 bug fixes along with some en-
- hancements and the adopted curses window port, were released as
+ hancements and the adopted curses window port, were released as
3.6.2.
- Bart House, who had contributed to the game as a porting
+ Bart House, who had contributed to the game as a porting
team participant for decades, joined the NetHack Development Team
in late May 2019.
- NetHack 3.6.3 was released on December 5, 2019 containing
+ NetHack 3.6.3 was released on December 5, 2019 containing
over 190 bug fixes to NetHack 3.6.2.
+ NetHack 3.6.4 was released on December 18, 2019 containing a
+ security fix and a few bug fixes.
+ NetHack 3.6.5 was released on January 27, 2020 containing
+ some security fixes and a small number of bug fixes.
+ NetHack 3.6.6 was released on March 8, 2020 containing a se-
+ curity fix and some bug fixes.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+ The official NetHack web site is maintained by Ken Lorber at
+ https://www.nethack.org/.
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
- NetHack Guidebook 103
- NetHack 3.6.4 was released on December 18, 2019 containing a
- security fix and a few bug fixes.
- NetHack 3.6.5 was released on January 27, 2020 containing
- some security fixes and a small number of bug fixes.
+ NetHack Guidebook 104
- NetHack 3.6.6 was released on March 8, 2020 containing a se-
- curity fix and some bug fixes.
- The official NetHack web site is maintained by Ken Lorber at
- https://www.nethack.org/.
12.1. SPECIAL THANKS
On behalf of the NetHack community, thank you very much once
- again to M. Drew Streib and Pasi Kallinen for providing a public
- NetHack server at nethack.alt.org. Thanks to Keith Simpson and
+ again to M. Drew Streib and Pasi Kallinen for providing a public
+ NetHack server at nethack.alt.org. Thanks to Keith Simpson and
Andy Thomson for hardfought.org. Thanks to all those unnamed dun-
- geoneers who invest their time and effort into annual NetHack
- tournaments such as Junethack, The November NetHack Tournament,
+ geoneers who invest their time and effort into annual NetHack
+ tournaments such as Junethack, The November NetHack Tournament,
and in days past, devnull.net (gone for now, but not forgotten).
- - - - - - - - - -
- From time to time, some depraved individual out there in
- netland sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
+ From time to time, some depraved individual out there in
+ netland sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
with the game. The NetHack Development Team sometimes makes note
- of the names of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list
+ of the names of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list
of Dungeoneers:
Adam Aronow J. Ali Harlow Mikko Juola
Alex Kompel Janet Walz Nathan Eady
Dean Luick Kevin Hugo Ross Brown
Del Lamb Kevin Sitze Sascha Wostmann
Derek S. Ray Kevin Smolkowski Scott Bigham
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 104
-
-
-
Deron Meranda Kevin Sweet Scott R. Turner
Dion Nicolaas Lars Huttar Sean Hunt
Dylan O'Donnell Leon Arnott Stephen Spackman
Frederick Roeber Merlyn LeRoy Tim Lennan
Gil Neiger Michael Allison Timo Hakulinen
Greg Laskin Michael Feir Tom Almy
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 105
+
+
+
Greg Olson Michael Hamel Tom West
Gregg Wonderly Michael Sokolov Warren Cheung
Hao-yang Wang Mike Engber Warwick Allison
Irina Rempt-Drijfhout Mike Passaretti
Izchak Miller Mike Stephenson
- Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trade-
+ Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trade-
marks of their respective holders.
- NetHack 3.7 December 16, 2020
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 December 19, 2020
projects / nethack / commitdiff